Nature Bulletin No. 92   November 16, 1946
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Clayton F. Smith, President
Roberts Mann, Supt. of Conservation

****:BIRD-FEEDING BOARDS

If you want some fun, set up a feeding place to attract the song birds 
which live here all winter. Now is the time. The simplest device is a 
board or a piece of plywood nailed on a window sill. It should be at 
least 12 inches wide and 24 inches long, set endwise, with a strip of 
moulding around the edge to keep the feed from being knocked off. If 
there are any trees close by, the birds will soon find it and, all winter 
long, you will have the thrill of watching them at close range. You may 
even photograph or sketch them.

In residential sections where there are many trees and shrubs, and 
particularly near parks and cemeteries, you may expect to have titmice, 
chickadees, juncoes, nuthatches, blue jays and sparrows flitting to and 
from your feeding board. You may even have a cardinal, a robin, a 
downy woodpecker or a hairy woodpecker. Each kind of bird behaves 
and feeds differently, and among each kind are individuals quite 
different from the others. Some become quite tame, others are nervous 
and wary. Some are gold and greedy; others are shy and dainty.

Birds need proteins and fats to keep them warm in cold weather. They 
like fat-rich seeds: particularly sunflower, hemp, millet, and cracked 
nuts or corn. Scatter a cupful of such seeds on your board as often as 
needed. At one corner place a lump of suet the size of your fist, 
fastened down with a nail to keep the blue jays from carrying it away. 
This will also attract the woodpeckers although they prefer it on the 
trunk of a tree where it should be enclosed in a container of hald-inch 
wire netting to foil the blue jays and squirrels.

Make a stiff dough of uncooked oatmeal and cornmeal mixed with a 
cup of heated fat drippings. Mold this into a ball and press it firmly 
onto another corner of your board. All birds seem to relish this and will 
peck at it vigorously. In very cold weather try a lump of unseasoned 
raw hamburger. Experiment. You will learn many interesting things. 
Keep a bird diary.

Feeding is fun.