1. Make a pine cone bird feeder. You will need a pine cone, 1/3 cup of peanut butter and 2/3 cup of cornmeal, plus bird seed and string.

Mix the peanut butter and cornmeal in a bowl. Smear the mixture on a pine cone, getting it deep into the cracks. Then roll the pine cone in bird seed, which will stick to the peanut butter mixture.

Tie the string to the pine cone, and hang it from a branch outside your window. Watch the birds -- and squirrels -- enjoy the feast.

2. Peanuts are high in fat and protein. Use raw (not salted or roasted) shelled peanuts. Put them in a mesh bag -- the kind oranges come in -- and tie the bag closed. Leave enough string so you can hang the feeder outside.

3. For an even better bird treat, ask an adult to help you find and buy a kind of fat called suet at the grocery store, near the fruit and vegetables. With an adult's help, melt the suet over low heat in a double boiler on the stove. Remove it from the heat and let it cool. As the suet starts to harden again, stick peanuts or seeds into the suet. When it cools, put the suet mixture in a mesh bag and hang it up outside.

4. Fruits are a great high-sugar winter treat for birds. They appreciate apples, pears, oranges, grapes, bananas and raisins. You can put these on a platform bird feeder, if you have one. Or find a long stick and put the pieces of fruit on like a big shish-kebab. Or string cranberries, using a needle and thread. Hang the berry string outside in the trees.

5. Besides food, birds need grit all year to help them break up and crush seeds they eat. Some bird food has grit already mixed into it. Or you may be able to buy crushed oyster shells at a pet store. Mix that as grit into your own bird seed.