When suet isn't suet

  My nephew e-mailed me the other day with a problem. It went something like this:
- Squirrel knocks down suet
- Little terrier gets into suet
- Dog poop everywhere
   So I suggested to him a recipe for a suet without the suet. Suet is beef fat, and that's what the pup likes.
   Since winter is coming on, and homemade suet works better in cold weather, I'll offer a couple of recipes here, one without the beef fat.
   I generally don't suggest making your own suet because it is so messy,
and store-bought suet is cheap and adequate. But you can come up
with ingredients that vary from the store-bought kind, and your birds may
like it better.

Here's a recipe for suet without the beef fat:

• Take some crunchy peanut butter and mix in some bird seed - mixed and/or sunflower.
• Add some grits (for southern birds!) or corn meal, and then some raisins or berries. 
•  I like to put a little honey in mine, but you can put in brown sugar, table sugar or molasses to sweeten it up.
• Mix it and form it into a mold to fit your suet cage. I use one of those Tupperware sandwich containers, but you can also use the bottom of a 1/2-gallon juice or milk carton. You might want to line it with waxed paper to prevent sticking.
• Cover and put it in the freezer overnight.
• Serve

For the suet with beef fat:

•  Get some beef fat from your butcher, or use trimmings from your own cuts of meat.
•  Cut it up into small squares - running it through a grinder is even  better.
• Cook it down to as close to liquid as possible, but BE CAREFUL NOT TO SCORCH IT - it will smoke and smell up the joint. You can do this in a pan or even in a microwave on a lower setting.
• Then mix it with the peanut butter and the other stuff above, and freeze it like above.

    As I have said before, birds eat most anything, so the combinations of
ingredients are almost endless. Some people put in flour or bread crumbs,
dried fruit, leftover rice, chopped nuts, oats, cereal, eggshells ... the list goes on and on.
    But suet of any type gives birds extra energy they need, particularly in winter.
Here's what I saw today:
(AM, sunny, 42 degrees, 20 minutes)
White-throated Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Carolina Wren
Northern Cardinal
Carolina Chickadee
Blue Jay
Tufted Titmouse
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird