Making delicious treats for all birds

Supplies needed

Preparation

Procedure - Step One

Tie your string/yarn around the top of the pine cone.

Procedure - Step Two

Take your plastic knife and cover the pine cone with the peanut butter. Be sure to cover it completely and not too thick.

Procedure - Step Three

Place peanut butter covered pine cone in the birdseed bowl and roll the pine cone around to cover the entire pine cone in seed.

Procedure - Step Four

Take it out and gently shake the excess seed off and then place on the wax paper tray.

*Repeat steps 1-4 for as many pine cones desired.

Procedure - Step Five

Find a suitable place to hang them ex. tree branches, bird feeders and enjoy watching the birds eat your delicious treat.

Note: These delicious bird treats can be frozen and used at a later date. Wrap them in wax paper then place in a bag and put in the freezer. This treat can be used ALL YEAR round.

Bird Watching With Jacob.

Our property is well treed and provides an abundance of protection for our fine feathered friends. Our bird feeders bring the birds into camera range. We will document with photographs the birds on our property.

Red-winged Black Bird.

Invasion!!

Jacobs bird treats attracted quite a crowd today. A flock of red-winged black birds stopped by for a meal. At one point there were between twenty and thirty here. During nesting season red-winged black birds can be found in marshlands sitting on top of cattails. So needless to say it was a new experience for us to have these birds at our feeders. I guess you never know what will show up when you feed.

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak.

The rose-breasted grosbeak is 7 to 8.5 inches long. The female has coloring similar to a sparrow and can often be seen at our feeders. The male is black and white with a red V on his breast and is much more illusive to find.



We constantly hear the rose-breasted grosbeak singing even during nesting season. The colorful male often sits on the nest to incubate the eggs while the female collects food. These two odd traits make the rose-breasted grosbeak vulnerable to predators such as squirrels, jays and cowbirds. The rose-breasted grosbeaks' diet consists of fruit, seeds and insects.

Downy Woodpecker.

The downy woodpecker is a frequent visitor to our bird feeding station. As you can see she prefers suet over the peanut butter pine cone treats. These birds are quite brave and will come to the feeder even if we are outside on the deck.

To the left is a male downy woodpecker.
We often hear the downy woodpecker drumming. This activity is commonly thought to be feeding or nest building but in fact is a warning to all other birds that they are in his territory.
Downy woodpeckers eat seeds, berries and wood-boring insects.

Blue Jay

The blue jay is one of the louder guests we have at our feeders. This bombastic visitor makes sure everyone knows he is coming with his distinct skrieching. The blue jays' loud aggresive behavior means he usually has the feeders all to himself.


While the blue jay likes Jacobs peanut butter pine cone bird treats, his size prevents him from landing on them. If he can reach the treats from a nearby perch he will dig in. If not he is just as content to eat from our suet cage or just eat seeds from another feeder.

American Robin

The robin is not known for coming to feeders simply because seeds are not their primary source of food. Robins instead prefer insects and worms. I caught this robin resting in a tree.

This is a robins' nest that fell from a tree after nesting season. It is made of string, straw, grass, bits of paper and mud and is remarkably sturdy. This photo was taken by Jacob himself. He has been practicing with the digital camera.



A few years ago Jacob found this baby blue robin egg that fell from a nest. From this young age Jacob has had an interest in birds.

Learn Your Winter Birds.

Fine Art Print From Art.com

Birds of the Garden Winte...

Buy From Art.com

Red-breasted Nuthatch.

The red-breasted nuthatch often visits Jacobs' peanut butter pine cone bird treats but has been hard to photograph. The red-breasted nuthatchs' habit of grabbing a seed and then flying off to eat it meant having to be quick with the camera. We persisted however, and finally got some shots.
The red-breasted nuthatch has the unusual trait of moving down a tree head first or upside down. It is able to get food missed by woodpeckers. Woodpeckers move up the tree head first. The red-breasted nuthatch likes to eat seeds and insects.

Red-eye Vireo

Watch Out For That Window!!!

Sometimes when bird watching the action can get closer than you expect. Recently one morning Jacobs breakfast was interupted by a thud. It seems that this red-eye vireo left one of our bird feeding stations and flew into our bay window. The bird was left laying on the ground stunned. My husband gently picked the bird up to get him out of harms way until he regained his senses. Shortly after the video clip below was taken, the red-eye vireo flew off into the bush.

Pileated Woodecker

Quite a Surprise!

We don't ussually get birds this big at our bird feeding station, and it's a good thing because this pileated woodpecker would eat us out of house and home. We have seen the pileated woodpecker many times on our property borrowing in trees and eating pin cherries but this is the first time it has been at our feeder.This large bird looks like a prehistoric pterodactyls when in flight.

The pileated woodpecker lives in stands of large desiduous and coniferous trees. It mates for life and stays in its' territory year round. The pileated woodpecker makes a large rectangular hole in trees when foraging for beetle larvae and ants. It also eats fruit and nuts. A unique characteristic of the pileated woodpecker is that it will move its' eggs if it believes the nest is in danger.

We Have Thieves!

Birds are not the only creatures that love Jacobs' peanut butter pine cone bird treats. For a while we were wondering where the pine cones were going. They would just disappear. It turns out the culprits were squirrels.


Red squirrels and black squirrels alike love the peanut butter pine cone bird treats. The bird treats are of course ideal food for squirrels. Seeds are a large part of a squirrels diet and they crave peanut butter for its' high energy.