Frugalities for the Birds

The first time I put out food for the birds the HG was about 8 months old. We lived in a trailer in Illinois in the winter, and we had no car, no television, no computer, and no friends in the state for the first two or three months we lived there. We were in a rental, a furnished trailer because the HM was supposed to be in technical school just six weeks. We brought what we could carry as luggage on our plane, so our entertainment resources were slim. We had three plates, three forks, three cups, and perhaps three pots and pans. The trailer could be cleaned in about fifteen minutes. We got a lot of enjoyment from spreading leftover crumbs from our meals on the snow outside the dining room window of the trailer and watching the birds come- I would even shake off the crumbs from the FYG's high chair outside the window where the birds could find them. Later my mother would tell me that she had done the same thing when we were young.

We've fed the birds and watched them through our windows everywhere we've lived ever since. We've been having a lot of fun feeding the birds outside our windows lately, and enjoying seeing the different sorts, but bird food can be pricey, especially if you want the neatest birds.

Two things you can do cheaply to attract fun birds are to set out bits of fruit (watch your grocer's mark down cart, or that half eaten orange your toddler dropped and you didn't find until the next day), and save your fat from cooking.
Whenever you fry bacon, brown ground beef, or boil or roast a chicken, whatever fat you don't want to use yourself, save in a can on the back of the stove. When it gets solid, spread it on the side of a tree and watch the woodpeckers and nuthatches come to the feast.

Another important way to attract birds is to provide a water source. Bird baths can be pricey, but you can make your own version. Take the lid to a trash can or plastic tote, turn it upside down and fill it with water. You can set this right on the ground and some birds will enjoy it. Or you can raise it above the ground by setting it on a few bricks (three cinder blocks, evenly spaced in a circle with the lid in the center), or you can see if your inverted lid filled with water will nest firmly inside the top of the can or tote.