#82 Backyard Tip: Introducing Suet

Most birds have a high metabolic rate, and suet (or fat) plays an important part in their diet. Suet produces enough energy to help birds sustain higher activity levels, for longer periods between meals, during the longer, colder winter months.


While suet can be offered in a cage feeder or mesh bag, I prefer to rub the suet directly into crevices and holes on a snag (as in the photo) that I have placed near my feeding station.

Many birds enjoy suet, but I find that it is those that tend to cling to tree trunks - woodpeckers, creepers, nuthatches, wrens, titmice and chickadees - that are readily attracted to my suet, and it is not long before I have to gladly replenish the supply.

photo © adrian binns