A Festive Bird Tree

This Christmas, how about decorating up a tree for your neighborhood's feathered friends? They'll sure appreciate it!  I take my cut Christmas tree outside after I undecorate it, and place it near my bird feeders. Leave it in the tree stand, and give it water when you get days above freezing. It stays nice & green until late winter (almost Spring), then I send it off to the composting facility. It offers shelter for the birds visiting the feeders, and more places for me to put food for them! Please remember- if you start to feed the birds for the winter, don't stop- they will come to rely on your feed for warmth & sustenance.

Here's some ideas to create a festive bird tree:

>Tie dried apple and/or orange slices on the tree with raffia

>Make garlands out of popcorn & cranberries strung together

>Take pinecones, affix a hanging hook, then roll them in a mixture of peanut butter, cornmeal & wild birdseed. (never use peanut butter by itself, though)

>Hang old bakery products like bagels, doughnuts & pretzels on your tree. day-old doughnuts are a favorite of chickadees!

>String together whole raw peanuts for a cute, edible garland

>Take bunches of grapes & wire them to the branches for mockingbirds, robins, waxwings & bluebirds.

>Cut an orange in half, scoop out the fruit, and fill with sunflower seeds, cranberries, dried fruits, nuts, etc... Attach to your tree like a basket with decorative ribbon

>Include some berry branches. Cut sprigs of holly, bayberries, pyracantha or juniper berries & place them in your tree. These natural berries will attract robins, mockingbirds, waxwings, yellow-rumped warblers & woodpeckers

>Melt down suet & pour into small decorative gelatin or dessert molds like stars or bundt cakes. Freeze for at least two hours. Once set, remove your decorative suet shape from the mold & hang on the tree with a bow. 

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