Attracting Birds with Bark Butter

 

Downy Woodpecker eating Hot Pepper Bark Butter

What is Bark Butter?
Jim's Birdacious Bark Butter is a highly nutritious, palatable, and spreadable suet created by Wild Birds Unlimited founder, Jim Carpenter, with the intention of attracting the shy Brown Creeper to his yard. Jim spent years perfecting his recipe, ultimately coming up with the perfect blend of pure rendered beef suet, peanut butter, corn, and added calcium for an extra boost. Not only did this recipe attract Brown Creepers, but it also attracted several other species who were not regular suet feeder visitors such as Grey Catbirds, Northern Mockingbirds, and Northern Cardinals. Since it's creation, Bark Butter has been recorded being dined upon by over 150 bird species!

Bark Butter Varieties
Over the years, Bark Butter has become so popular among backyard birders and birds themselves, that new varieties with added benefits and different applications have been created to further enhance the bird feeding experience. Those varieties include:

• Hot Pepper Bark Butter: The original spreadable Bark Butter with a spicy kick to deter squirrels and other critters, allowing you to feed the birds anywhere and keep unwanted diners at bay.
• Bark Butter Bits: All the goodness of Bark Butter rolled in to bite sized pieces. Bark Butter Bits can be fed alone in a variety of different feeders, or mixed in with your favourite WBU seed blend. They are an ideal food to offer during nesting season as they are packed with calcium and easy for parents to feed their young birds, With some patience and luck, you may even get a bird to land in your hand for one of these delicious morsels! Also available in hot pepper variety.
• Bugs & Bits: A mix of our popular Bark Butter Bits & dried mealworms, designed to attract insect-eating species. Enjoyed by birds year-round, but especially beneficial for a boost of nutrients during nesting season. 
• Bark Butter No-Melt Cylinder: A long-lasting feeding option that allows for longer views of your backyard birds as they continue to come back for more of this tasty treat. Fits in any WBU suet cylinder feeders.
• Bark Butter Plugs: Same nourishing Bark Butter recipe in a convenient plug form. Can be used in suet plug feeders or suet cages.
  
  

Hairy Woodpecker and Northern Flicker feeding from Suet Cylinder Log Feeder

How to feed Bark Butter to your backyard birds

• Our original Jim's Birdacious Bark Butter can be fed in a number of ways including our specially designed Bark Butter Feeders, which are made specifically for easy Bark Butter application, cleaning, and feeding for the birds. The Suet Cylinder Log Feeder is one of our most popular feeders as it holds suet cylinders or suet balls inside, while Bark Butter can be spread in the grooves on the outside of the feeder. The number one benefit of adding Bark Butter to your backyard bird feeding menu, is that it turns your surroundings in to bird feeders. Grab your tub of Bark Butter & a fork, smear a generous amount on to a tree and crosshatch with fork prongs, and watch as the birds investigate and chow down. 
  
  
• Bark Butter Bits and Bugs & Bits can be fed on their own, or mixed with your favourite WBU seed blends and offered in tray feeders such as our WBU Spiral Treat Tray, or Dinner Bell Feeder. Bark Butter Bits can also be offered in feeders designed to hold shelled peanuts, like our Peanut Ball Feeder (pictured above). In some instances birds will take food from your hand, Bark Butter Bits are the perfect size and shape for this fun activity, and their great taste will keep the birds coming back for more.
  
  

Brown Creeper eating Hot Pepper Bark Butter

Offer Bark Butter when feeders aren't an option
Maybe you don't want to, or aren't able to, use feeders but still want to offer the birds a treat now and then. Bark Butter is the perfect option in these situations. Bark Butter is a highly nutritious, palatable, and spreadable suet created with the intention of attracting the shy Brown Creeper. It is made of pure rendered beef suet, peanut butter, corn, and added calcium for an extra boost. Not only does this recipe attract Brown Creepers, but it also attracts several other species who are not regular suet feeder visitors such as Grey Catbirds, Northern Mockingbirds, and Northern Cardinals. Since it's easily spreadable, Bark Butter essentially turns your surroundings in to bird feeders. Grab your tub of Bark Butter & a fork, smear a generous amount on to a tree and crosshatch with fork prongs, and watch as the birds investigate and chow down. Bonus: Bark Butter makes a great "first food" for young birds during nesting season!

Put Bark Butter everywhere during stormy weather
Though birds are built to fly in all types of weather, extreme winds can be dangerous to even the most agile of birds, particularly in cold weather. When it gets really windy, birds will typically hunker down and remain in one spot for as long as they can to avoid their feathers blowing away from their body and losing insulation. To help them stay put, birds sink their talons into or around their chosen perch and hold their feathers down tight to help keep the cold out. There are also some cavity dwellers, like woodpeckers, who will seek shelter in known cavities until the storm passes. But all of this staying put robs birds of their ability to feed, which drains their energy that they so desperately need during this type of weather. Spreading Bark Butter (WBU's spreadable suet) on trees and other surfaces around your yard can help the birds get the nourishment they need without having to travel far to get it. Bark Butter is also handy for days when you need to take your feeders down due to high winds, that way the birds can still feed even without access to bird feeders.