Sunday, January 15, 2017

Grease balls

They're called boules de graisse in French, literally balls of fat, what we'd call suet. They're very popular around here in the fall and winter and are sold by the bucket-full in garden centers and supermarkets. The balls are usually always wrapped in a green plastic netting that needs to be retrieved and thrown away once the seed is gone. Songbirds, les passereaux in French, especially like the mix of fat and seed products in the balls.

Un mésange (blue tit) clings to the feeder while pecking at the seed and suet.

I got this feeder many years ago. It's specially designed to hold several boules. As I mentioned yesterday, I hang this from the railing of our front deck during the cold months. It sometimes takes the birds a day or two to realize it's there, but once they do there's no stopping them. It didn't take long to learn which birds liked to feed here and what they're called both in French and in English.

7 comments:

  1. We used to have lots of feeders when we lived in the States. It was great for many hours of cheap (also, cheep) entertainment... and education... and photo ops.

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  2. Nifty things. I've only seen the square blocks of suet.

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  3. Me, too, Evelyn, only the square ones.
    I like the look of your feeder, Walt. You guys always have a little something special about your stuff :)

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  4. the feeder looks great in the winter

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  5. that does look lovely.
    The feeders around here look 'useful but not pretty' as if designed by some governmental agency.

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  6. stuart, cheep entertainment! LOL

    evelyn, they sell square ones here, too, but I don't see them as much as the round ones.

    judy, c'est la "French Touch" comme on dit.

    gosia, it looks empty in the summer. ;)

    michael, do roadrunners visit them?

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    1. One does not feed roadrunners, but we have lots of hummingbirds. Feeding them is all the rage. I've learned they can be quite aggressive.

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