Feeding and photographing the pygmy nuthatch

Pygmy nuthatches are the Tinkerbelles of the bird world, little sprites that are friendly, gregarious and acrobatic. At just a bit over four inches in length, and with coloring that blends in well to dappled shade, they can easily be overlooked while hiking. But their antics are easily observed year-round in any of the conifer forests of New Mexico if you set out a suet cake for them. A proven popular recipe is included below.

These comical birds have a specialty in the "pecking order" of birds that glean insects from trees. Much larger woodpeckers climb up a tree's main trunk and will find insects hiding in crevices from that vantage point. Larger nuthatches will climb down that same tree trunk to find insects hiding along the edges unseen by the woodpeckers that are looking up in their climb.

Pygmy nuthatches, on the other hand, are so small that they can hunt along the smallest of tree branches, even using a spiral course all the way out to the very end.

To coax pygmy nuthatches close to you, follow this recipe for a suet cake and set one out in a suet feeder. They love the mixture so much, they will quite forget you're there.

This recipe will make five one-pound cakes:

• 16 ounces lard
• 18 ounces peanut butter
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 4 cups oats
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups cornmeal
• 1 or 2 cups bird seed

Melt lard and peanut butter in a large pot. Bring it to a boil and add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Meanwhile, combine flour and oats in a large bowl, stirring to coat the oats. Add the flour and oat mixture into the lard/peanut butter mixture. Bring to a low boil and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the cornmeal and bird seed and stir. Allow to cool a bit, then pour into a large plastic container. Freeze the mixture. Cut into feeder-sized cakes and store in a plastic bag in the freezer until needed.