This is Bird Note. At this time of year, birds love fat.

With a brilliant flash of its copper red underwings, a flicker sails into the yard.

Just behind it wings a stubby-tailed red-breasted nut hatch.

Now, a couple of energetic black-capped chickadeys dart in.

And a downy woodpecker brings up the rear.

What a burst of vitality on a chilly morning.

What's the attraction?

A cake of suet suspended from a branch in a small wire feeder.

Sueet is beef fat, a high-energy food critical for birds' survival in the colder months.

With few insects available in winter,

Sueet is an especially strong magnet for birds that eat a lot of bugs in the warmer months.

It's also great for birds with bills that are not adapted to opening seeds.

Bird feeding suppliers now offer a wide array of processed suet cakes, some studded with berries or seeds.

Perhaps a bird's equivalent of a home-baked chocolate chip cookie.

Come to our website, birdnote.org, for more on suet feeders.

And hurry, because here come the J's. They love Sueet, too.

For Bird Note, I'm Mary McCann.