The 2-Minute Lard Trick That Helps Smaller Songbirds Get Their Fair Share of Food in Fall and Winter

If you're feeding garden birds this fall, you'll know that fat balls and suet feeders are often mobbed by dominant birds like starlings and grackles, leaving nothing for more timid feathered friends to feast upon – which is why you should also smear a little lard on a tree or fencepost. Adding fat to your bird feeding buffet is essential as temperatures fall, but small birds who need this energy-boost most often miss out. However, this quick bird-feeding trick ensures smaller, shyer nuthatches, chickadees, titmice, wrens and creepers get their fair share of high-energy fuel, because bigger birds are unable to cling to this vertical surface to feed.

Smearing lard, tallow or vegetable shortening onto a tree only takes two minutes4 but this simple addition really can make a difference to how smaller garden songbirds fare in winter. The smaller a bird is, the more vulnerable it is to freezing or starving as temperatures drop, and the more likely it is to be bullied from feeders by more aggressive birds. This fat-smear trick bypasses those bullying birds, mimicking natural foraging to tempt even cautious birds like brown creepers who are far too shy to use regular feeders.

If you like to feed birds in winter, tree-smeared lard can attract unusual visitors like woodpeckers to your yard as insects become scarce, and you'll also enjoy watching nuthatches walk headfirst down the tree trunk to enjoy their fat feast. Smearing lard on a tree also avoids the danger of smaller birds getting their tongues, claws or legs tangled in a fat-ball mesh holder. You can also easily mix birdseed into the fat to provide extra nutrients, or try our super-tasty bark butter recipe below.

How to Use the Lard-Smear Trick

Any tree or fencepost will do, but aim for a more mature tree or older fencepost that has furrows or cracks that will hold more lard and give clinging birds a foothold. Take a golf-ball sized chunk of lard, tallow or vegetable shortening and press it onto the wood, ideally 5-6 feet high, on the shady side of the tree or post so it doesn’t melt in the sun.

Mix in a pinch of cayenne pepper to deter squirrels if needs be, as they’ll quickly learn to leave it alone while birds are unaffected by the taste and heat. Only smear enough fat on the tree for birds to finish during daylight hours to avoid attracting nocturnal scavengers like racoons and opossums. And if you live in bear country, wait until late November or December when they're in full hibernation before trying this trick.

The Right Fat to Use

You can use animal-based lard or tallow, and plant-based vegetable shortening to feed garden birds in winter using this quick trick.

Lard is cheap, full of fast energy for birds and has a soft, buttery texture so is easily pressed into bark furrows. Look for a product that’s 100% pure lard such as South Chicago Packing Lard, available from Amazon. You’ll find similar products at most grocery stores but read the ingredients list carefully: while you don’t need to worry about citric acid, avoid synthetic stabilizers like propyl gallate, BHT or BHA, commonly added to grocery-store lard to prevent it going rancid. Don't use products with added salt or sodium as birds can't process it and high levels can be fatal.

Tallow is simply suet in rendered form and, again, you need to look for a product that’s 100% tallow such as Farmer Bob’s 100% Beef Tallow, available from Amazon. It has a similar consistency to lard and has a higher nutritional value as well as being a great source of energy.

Vegetable shortening is less nutritious but it still provides a valuable high-energy boost to small songbirds in cold conditions. For regular use, an organic all-vegetable shortening such as Spectrum Naturals Organic Shortening, available from Walmart is best. Unrefined and free of synthetic preservatives, it retains some nutrients and is firm enough to use for this trick. It's fine to use Crisco, also available from Walmart, if that’s what you already have in your panty, but it’s less nutritious and melts more easily so think of it as an occasional junk-food treat for birds.

If You Live in a Colder Zone

In the North, Midwest and Mountain West, temperatures are cold enough to simply smear lard or tallow straight onto the tree or post without it melting or spoiling in fall and winter. Vegetable shortening will need mixing with cornmeal to stiffen it up before using. Of course, you can still add ingredients to lard and tallow to increase the nutritional value.

If You Live in a Warmer Zone

In the South and Southwest, mild fall and winter days can be warm enough to soften lard, tallow and vegetable shortening, so mix with cornmeal to form a firmer dough before using.

The Tasty Bark Butter Recipe No Small Bird Can Resist

While plain lard smeared onto a tree or fencepost works just fine, this no-cook recipe will tempt even the shyest feeders. Mixing a handful of natural, raw ingredients into the fat also creates a pliable dough that’s the perfect consistency to press into bark furrows in all zones.

Ingredients

• 1 cup lard, tallow or vegetable shortening
• 1 cup peanut butter with no added salt, sugar or Xylitol such as Crazy Richard’s All-Natural Creamy Peanut Butter from Walmart
• 2 cups oat flour such as Pure Oat Flour from Walmart (or put regular oatmeal into a blender and pulse for 30 seconds)
• 2 cups yellow cornmeal such as Great Value Corn Meal from Walmart

Instructions

• Leave the lard, tallow or vegetable shortening and peanut butter to soften at room temperature, then mash them together in a big bowl with a fork.
• Stir in the cornmeal and oat flour, adding a little extra cornmeal if the mixture still feels sticky, to get the consistency of a firm cookie dough.
• Shape into a log and wrap in parchment paper or plastic wrap and put in the fridge overnight. The dough will keep for three weeks in the fridge or, once the roll has hardened, you can slice the dough into individual rounds of daily portions, wrap and freeze for up to three months.

Providing food for small, shy songbirds in this way is a useful part of a bird-food buffet in fall and winter. The more ways you can offer food, the better, from planting berried shrubs that provide a natural feast for winter birds to saving kitchen scraps for your feathered friends. Different species prefer different food types and also to feed in various ways, so using a range of bird feeders to satisfy different species is a smart move, too. Just don't forget to cater for the smallest backyard birds with this quick lard-smear trick.