Tweet Treats - It's For the Birds!

Create Tweet Treats
For Your Backyard Birds

Watching the birds in your
backyard is a fun activity for
families to do together.

Help your children create Tweet Treats
for your backyard feathered friends!

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Orange-Rind Feeders

What You Will Need:

• Several Large Oranges, any kind
• Strong Thread or Twine
• Gold and Black Raisins
• Dried Cherries
• Chopped Suet

What You Do:

• Cut the oranges in half and scoop out the flesh. This empty orange rind half will form the basket for the bird food.
• Coursely chop the orange flesh and set it aside.
• Thread a carpet needle with the thread or twine, and sew through the orange rind half on one side - about 1/4" from the top of the rind. Pull the thread most of the way through the rind.
• Tie a knot in the twine so it is securely fastened to the rind. Sew through the opposite side of the rind in the same position. Make sure to leave enough slack in the thread to create a short handle. Tie off the thread as you did on the first side, and clip off any extra thread. Your orange rind basket is complete and ready to fill with food.
• Combine the orange pulp with the raisins and cherries.
• Place the fruit mixture into half of the orange rind basket, then fill the other half of the orange rind basket with chopped suet. Repeat this for the second orange rind basket.
• Hang the filled feeder from a tree branch where you can see it.

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Bagel Feeder

What You Will Need:

• Stale Bagel
• 3 tablespoons Yellow Cornmeal
• 1/4 cup Raisins
• 1 cup Crunchy Peanut Butter
• Nail
• Hammer

What You Do:

• Don't through away those day-old bagels - feed them to the birds! Chicadees, titmice, mockingbirds, jays, robins, sparrows, starlings, and even bluebirds all enjoy a little nibble of a bagel.
• Break a plain bagel in half and place them on a tray feeder or hang them from a tree branch. For larger birds, you may have to drive a nail into a tree or post and then impale the bagel on the nail - otherwise the larger birds may knock the treat off or even fly away with the entire thing.
• To make your bagel even more appealing to the birds, mix together cornmeal, raisins and peanut butter. Spread the mixture onto the bagel, then hang the bagel for the birds to enjoy.

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Fruit Garland

What You Will Need:

• Dried Fruit - apricots, apples, or cranberries work well
• Unsalted Peanuts in the shell
• Upholstery Thread
• Needle

What You Do:

• Using a double strand of thread, string a peanut onto the thread and tie a knot around it at the end. The peanut will help prevent the pieces of fruit from falling off the garland.
• Thread a mixture of dried fruits and peanuts onto the garland until you have the length of garland you would like to use.
• Finish the garland with a peanut and tie a knot in the thread.
• Hang the garland in a tree or an area where your birds will find it.
• Sit back and watch the birds enjoy your special tweet treat!

Important Notes:

• Once you start to feed birds, they will become accustomed to the supply of food so you'll want to continue feeding them.
• Birds need water, too. You might consider adding a bird bath to your yard.
• Keep a list of what kinds of birds come to eat at each of your feeders. Use a Bird Identification Guide Book to help you identify the birds you don't know.
• Observe the birds and note the time of day when the most birds show up to eat - morning, afternoon, or evening?
• Plant trees, shrubs, and flowers in your yard to provide foot, shelter, and nesting places for birds. Ash trees, barberries, chokeberries, elms, junipers, roses, and wax myrtles supply fruits and berries for the birds. Pines, spicebushes, magnolias, and beech trees supply seeds or nuts. Hibiscus, mimosas, tulip trees, and wigelia supply nectar.