A Feeder For Every Bird?
A Feeder For Every Bird?
If you’ve fed the birds in the past you’ve probably noticed that some birds prefer to eat off the ground, while others will go to a feeder first. You may have seen that finches love the tube feeders and when they are filled with the extra fine sunflower chips, woodpeckers go to these as well. And you’ve observed that many birds like to land on a nearby shrub or tree before making the rest of the flight onto a feeder.
There is indeed a feeding station for every bird, and there are many ways to attract those you want to provide for, while discouraging the squirrels and other critters. Here are just a few of the options.
With the Droll Yankee Seed Tray you can get creative and make a feeder look like a garden sculpture. The store stocks the poles for mounting these trays on. My feeder has old glass and brass lamp parts under the tray, and a flower pot and iron eagle on top. Best of all, however, is that the squirrels can’t get from the pole to the top of the tray because of how the tray is designed. Install your tray on a pole far enough away from shrubs and trees so that the squirrels can’t jump from one of those onto the top of the tray.
This seed tray has holes for drainage which makes it easy to clean. Since it is open, the ground feeders like the cardinals can land on it easily. This is the tray I used to make the feeder on a pole seen above.
For those who like to keep the larger birds away from some of the feeders, Droll Yankee makes this one. Small birds go in and feed, but the crows and blue jays are too big.
There are many feeders that are designed to keep squirrels away. These throw the critters off.
Choose the feeder that you like, from decorative to plain.
John shows off the large “sky hooks” we have for hanging feeders from taller trees or roof edges. With a hook like this you can position feeders where they are easy to fill.
I fill my “finch feeders” that have the tiny holes with extra fine sunflower chips. This pleases the finches and the woodpeckers.
In the winter, when birds need more calories to keep warm, we put some sunflower seed on a nearby bench in the winter, and scatter some on the ground as well. We make sure to fill feeders between 2 and 3 PM when we’re home so that they have food before nightfall. In the spring we’ll cut the feeding down to some on the pole feeder and one finch tube, but at this time of year several feeding stations (including a suet basket) are appreciated.
What birds are you seeing this year?
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