As you may or may not know, Amsterdam is home to many beautiful green parakeets. It is unknown how exactly they came to making Amsterdam their home, but they are a colorful addition to our city. Amsterdam is home to many other birds too, such as the Herons who love the Albert Cuyp market and of course the Robins who are a rare find, but especially busy in the Amsterdamse Bos!
We were biking through Amsterdam the other day, and saw four parakeets eating away at a bird feeder located on a high balcony. Our immediate reaction was to get a bird feeder too, so that we could attract the beautiful birds to our balconies. We wanted to share our process, as it’s a great activity to do with your kids or friends this holiday season, and is very simple!
This recipe for this bird suet is perfect for the winter season, giving birds many nutrients. See the parentheses for vegan options. You’ll need a few ingredients to get started:
- Plastic mesh (e.g. recycled from your onion or garlic bags)
- Paper cups
- String to seal
- 120 ml Peanut butter (or nut butter of choice)
- 240 ml Black sunflower seeds (or bird seed of choice)
- 240 ml Rolled oats
- 120 ml Flour
- 120 ml Bacon fat (or coconut oil)
- 240 ml Cornmeal
Then to put it together:
- Melt peanut butter and bacon fat in the microwave for around a minute.
- Mix in the rest of the ingredients and blend well.
- Pour the mixture into the paper cups and freeze or refrigerate.
- Once cooled, you can take off the cup of the suet, and place suet into the mesh bag
- Use a piece of string to tie a knot and hang it in a tree or on your Amsterdam balcony!
This is an easy way to do a fun short activity that will allow for endless bird watching, and we definitely recommend! If you have a go, we would love to see it, so please share with #robinretail.
