Bird Feeder Basics
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Article by: Louise Desmarteau Bird Feeders The fastest way to a bird's heart is definitely through their stomach. Put up a backyard bird , Why You Should Consider Gardening For Your Children feeder and birds , Mulching Benefits / Organic And Inorganic Mulch Types will certainly come to feed in your yard. , A Hedge for the Children Where you live determines what you'll see because of differences in birds' range and habitat , Rug Royalty: The Karastan Carpet. preferences. As words spread about your feeder, the kinds of birds and the size of crowd will increase. Even if you live in the city where it seems pigeons and house , Why You Should Consider Gardening For Your Children sparrows are the only birds on earth, , Better Indoor Living: Give Your Home a Comfort Makeover this you'll get surprise visitors that find your food , Chrysanthemums: or stop in on migration. Bird Feeder Basics When you shop for bird , Prefabricated Homes Primer feeders, you'll find your choices are almost limitless. You may wonder how to , Be careful of over mulching your plants. decide what to buy. Here are some hints. Ease of use - The most important factor in choosing a feeder is how easy it is to use - for both the owner and the birds. , Should You Sell Before The Housing Bubble Pops You want a feeder that's easy to fill and that holds a reasonable amount of seed. , Assessing Your Asphalt Shingles If you are just getting started, look for a feeder that displays seed , Gardening: Creating Your Own Private Paradise in full view because birds , Bathroom vanities and cabinets come in many different styles are attracted by the sight of food , Preformed Watercourse and Waterfall Ideas and by the sight of other birds , Taking Care Your House Plants During Winter eating. An open tray is great for starters. Make sure your bird , Online Garden Seed Exchanges feeder has plenty of room , Assessing Your Asphalt Shingles for birds , More Types Of Shrub To Use In Your Garden to eat without protrusions or decorations getting in the way. Birds , Advice about the latest and accurate advice witrel="nofollow" h reference t also like a feeder with a raised ledge or perch that they can grasp while eating. Size - When birds , Essential Cleaning Tips for the Kitchen come to a bird , Selecting the Right Air Compressor for Your Air Tool feeder, they want food, , Tips on Making Beautiful Floral Arrangements and they wait it fast. Choose a main tray feeder that's big enough for at least a dozen birds , Taking Care Your House Plants During Winter to eat at once. Supplement that with hopper- and tube-type bird , Assessing Your Asphalt Shingles feeders. Domed feeders are great for small birds like chickadees. Feeders inside , How To Sharpen Lawn Mower Blades wire cages give small birds , A Hedge for the Children a place , Tips on Making Beautiful Floral Arrangements to eat and peace without competition from starlings or other larger birds. , Part III: Home Buyer Terms and Definitions Once you have one or two large bird , Better Indoor Living: Give Your Home a Comfort Makeover this feeder you can add as many smaller feeders as you like. Quality - Make sure your bird , Should You Sell Before The Housing Bubble Pops feeder is well made. A sturdy, simple, but beautiful , Essential Cleaning Tips for the Kitchen feeder costs more than you'd think. Expect to pay $30 - $75 for a feeder that will last for years. Tray (Platform) Feeders A must have for any backyard , Selecting the Right Air Compressor for Your Air Tool is a simple wooden , The Joys Of Garden Decks tray feeder. It's big, it's easy to fill, and it accommodates several birds. , The Joys Of Garden Decks The other feeders pick up the overflow and they can be stocked with treats. Cardinals, finches, jays, grosbeaks, bluebirds, blackbirds, nuthatches, chickadees, titmice, and buntings all prefer an open tray feeder. The only birds , Make Your Fresh Cut Roses Last Longer! reluctant to us a tray feeder mounted on a post are ground-feeding birds. , Essential Cleaning Tips for the Kitchen A very low tray on stumped legs will accommodate these birds, , How To Sharpen Lawn Mower Blades which include native sparrows, quail, towhees, and doves. You can put any kind of seed , Fire Hazard Alert - is your Dryer ready to Ignite in a tray except for small Niger, lettuce, and grass , Granite Countertops: An Overview seeds, which are prone to blow away or get wasted. Platform feeders are also good places , Patio Design and Patio Furniture - The Use of Focal Points to put out doughnuts, bread crumbs and fruit. , The Convenience of a Fireplace Insert. Platform feeders with a roof , Selecting the Right Air Compressor for Your Air Tool are often called fly-through feeders. One problem with tray feeders is that plenty of seed , The Convenience of a Fireplace Insert. gets kicked to the ground. Adding raised edges to a platform feeder transforms it into tray feeder. Tray feeders can be hung. A popular hanging model, the Droll Yankees X-l Seed , Tips on Making Beautiful Floral Arrangements saver is protected by a dome to keep seed , Taking Care Your House Plants During Winter dry and prevent squirrels from raiding. This feeder works especially well as a mealworm feeder. Hopper Feeders Hopper-style bird , Rug Royalty: The Karastan Carpet. feeders with plastic , The Joys Of Garden Decks or glass , Assessing Your Asphalt Shingles enclosures that dole out seed , Don't Lose Your Cool When Selecting An Air Conditioning C as they're needed, are an efficient choice because seed is used as needed and large amounts aren't exposed to wet or snowy weather, , Be careful of over mulching your plants. or kicked out by scratching birds. , How to cast bronze and other metals with plastic molds. Many birds, , Clay Soils Planting Tips including chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, cardinals, jays, and woodpeckers, eat eagerly at a hopper feeder. Make sure the tray of a hopper-style bird , 25 Christmas Stocking Filler Ideas For Your Teenage Girl feeder has enough room , Advice about the latest and accurate advice witrel="nofollow" h reference t for more than two or three birds , Granite Countertops: An Overview to gather and eat, and check to see if the feeder will be easy to clean if seed , Rug Royalty: The Karastan Carpet. spoils in bad weather. , Love to garden but short on money? Here’s 10 money saving id Be especially careful if you mount your hopper feeder permanently in the garden. , There is an art to perfect landscaping If the hopper or frame blocks the tray, the feeder may be very hard to clean. Hopper feeders are not always rectangular. They can be many-sided or tubular, resembling a gazebo, lantern, or silo, and may be called by those names. A popular round hopper design , Don't Lose Your Cool When Selecting An Air Conditioning C is the Sky Cafe by Arundale, a hanging feeder made entirely of clear polycarbonate. The hopper and feeding platform are protected by a large, steeply sloped hood designed to detour squirrels. The idea of a large dome above a feeder to protect it from squirrels is incorporated in a number of feeder designs, , Be careful of over mulching your plants. including Droll Yankees' Big Top. One of the most significant innovations in hopper feeders has been the "squirrel-proof" models created by Heritage Farms, , How to cast bronze and other metals with plastic molds. such as The Absolute II. Birds , Advice about the latest and accurate advice witrel="nofollow" h reference t must sit on a rail to reach the seed , Don't Lose Your Cool When Selecting An Air Conditioning C tray. The rail has a counterweight that can be adjusted so that a squirrel's weight or that of a jay or blackbird will cause the shield to lower in front of the tray. Wire-Mesh Feeders Perfect for holding shelled peanuts wire-mesh feeders are fun to watch. Blue , 25 Christmas Stocking Filler Ideas For Your Teenage Girl jays, woodpeckers, and chickadees can cling to the mesh and pick seeds , Advice about the latest and accurate advice witrel="nofollow" h reference t out one at a time. Squirrels can pick seeds , Online Garden Exchanges too, but one seed , Family Meal Planning at a time can be painfully slow. Wire-mesh feeders work equally well dispensing black oil sunflower seeds , Part III: Home Buyer Terms and Definitions and most other larger seeds. , Feng Shui Colors And What They Represent Small, round millet grains pour through the openings and are not a good choice for these feeders. Most commercial wire-mesh feeders are tubular, but some are shaped like hoppers and may be attached to a platform where birds , Prefabricated Homes Primer can perch to feed, rather than having to cling to the mesh. Mesh bags, often called thistle socks, are also available for dispensing Niger seed. , How to Grow Organic Cigar Tobacco Refillable socks made of fabric and disposable ones made of plastic , There is an art to perfect landscaping are available. Squirrels or rain can quickly ruin thistle socks, so hang them in a protected place. Window Feeders Years ago, before the fancy screens and storm windows, , Prefabricated Homes Primer many people simply scattered a handful of crumbs or seeds , The Joys Of Garden Decks for the birds on their windowsills. You can mount a simple shallow tray feeder on the outside , Be careful of over mulching your plants. of a window, , Part III: Home Buyer Terms and Definitions mounting it like a window , Rug Royalty: The Karastan Carpet. box (but higher and closer to the pane). You can use wooden , Rug Royalty: The Karastan Carpet. or metal , More Types Of Shrub To Use In Your Garden brackets that attach below the sill or on the sill. Perfect for kids and indoor , Lawn Aeration — The Cure for Soggy Grass Carpets cats - many window , A Hedge for the Children feeders attach with suction cups. Typically made of clear plastic, , How to Grow Organic Cigar Tobacco models by Aspects, Duncraft and K-Feeders are among those available. The most popular window , Part III: Home Buyer Terms and Definitions feeders are made by the Birding Company. A one-way mirror allows the feeding activity to be observed while keeping the birds , There is an art to perfect landscaping from being disturbed. The feeders need to be placed in a sunny spot for the one-way mirror to work. The feeder can be cleaned and food , Embrace Your Soul With Flowers replaced from inside , Essential Cleaning Tips for the Kitchen the house. , Dog Days of Summer - August Gardening tips Tube Feeders Simple tube feeders are a perfect example of form matching function. They're self-contained, so seed , Patio Design and Patio Furniture - The Use of Focal Points stays dry; they hold a good quantity of seed, , The Joys Of Garden Decks so they don't need refilling too often; and they can accommodate several birds , More Types Of Shrub To Use In Your Garden at one time. Not all tube feeders are created equal though. You should invest a few extra dollars in the more expensive feeders such as Duncraft or Droll Yankees. The tube itself is sturdier, the feeding holes are designed better so there's less spillage or feeds as birds , Don't Lose Your Cool When Selecting An Air Conditioning C eat, and the heavier metal , Advice about the latest and accurate advice witrel="nofollow" h reference t used on top and bottom makes the feeder much more stable. Being heavier they don't swing as easily in the wind scattering seed , Fire Hazard Alert - is your Dryer ready to Ignite on the ground. Tube feeders are welcomed by goldfinches, purple finches, pine siskins, chickadees, and house , How to Grow Organic Cigar Tobacco finches, who seem to know they can eat in peace there without being disturbed by the bigger birds. , Patio Design and Patio Furniture - The Use of Focal Points The size of the hole (port) determines whether you have a feeder that should be filled with Niger, birdseed mix or sunflower seeds. There are two styles of tube feeders. One is designed with small feeding ports for the tiny Niger seeds; the other has larger ports for such seeds , Be careful of over mulching your plants. as black oil sunflower, safflower, or mixed seed. Not all tube feeders are cylinders. There are tube feeders with three, four, or more sides. It is the idea of feeding ports built into the elongated seed , Clay Soils Planting Tips container that makes a feeder a tube feeder. The Droll Yankees A6 Tube Feeder is still a top seller. Droll Yankee feeders have a lifetime guarantee. Other variations include Perky Pet's Upside-Down Thistle Feeder. Perches are placed above the feeding ports so that seed , After the most up-to-date help relating to custom paint. can be accessed only by finches that can feed upside down, a design , Advice about the latest and accurate advice witrel="nofollow" h reference t that excludes house finches. Two or three tubes are sometimes ganged together, as the Opus TopFlight Triple Tube Feeder. With a total of 12 ports, it can feed more birds , 25 Christmas Stocking Filler Ideas For Your Teenage Girl than a single tube, and it also has the option of being filled with a different seed , Storck, The Rouge Garden Gnome type in each tube. Most tube feeders are made of transparent plastic, , Easy Steps to Composting but Vari-Craft makes particularly attractive tube feeders of white , Should You Sell Before The Housing Bubble Pops PVC. Ports are made of a hard plastic. , Rug Royalty: The Karastan Carpet. A squirrel-proof model is available with stainless steel ports. Most tube feeders can be fitted with round trays underneath that catch spillage from birds , Embrace Your Soul With Flowers like finches, which are notoriously messy eaters. The tray serves double duty as a small platform feeder for such birds , Advice about the latest and accurate advice witrel="nofollow" h reference t as cardinals and doves, which benefit from the slung seed. , A Hedge for the Children Tube feeders are sometimes placed inside , How to Care for Cut Flowers a wire-mesh cage for protection from squirrels. Cages also keep large birds , Patio Design and Patio Furniture - The Use of Focal Points like grackles from perching on a tray and reaching up to the feeder ports. Nectar Feeders Sweet sugar water, , Part III: Home Buyer Terms and Definitions or nectar, is a huge draw for hummingbirds. , Part III: Home Buyer Terms and Definitions Put up a nectar feeder and you're practically guaranteed to get hummers. The birds , Feng Shui Colors And What They Represent search for red and deep orange-red flowers, , More Types Of Shrub To Use In Your Garden andanything that color , Preformed Watercourse and Waterfall Ideas will bring them in for a closer look. Your nectar feeder may also attract other birds , Mulching Benefits / Organic And Inorganic Mulch Types with a sweet tooth, including orioles, house , Fire Hazard Alert - is your Dryer ready to Ignite finches, and woodpeckers. In the wild these birds , Rug Royalty: The Karastan Carpet. would satisfy that craving with real nectar from flowers, or a sip of sugary tree , Patio Design and Patio Furniture - The Use of Focal Points sap or fruit , Advice about the latest and accurate advice witrel="nofollow" h reference t juice. The sugar boost gives them quick calories and the energy , Advice about the latest and accurate advice witrel="nofollow" h reference t needed to live. As with other bird , Dog Days of Summer - August Gardening tips feeders, look for a nectar feeder that's easy to fill and easy to clean. Make sure you can remove the base to clean out the feeding holes. Bee guards of gridded plastic , There is an art to perfect landscaping over the feeder openings are a necessity unless you like to watch constant battles between wasps and hummingbirds. , Advice about the latest and accurate advice witrel="nofollow" h reference t Suet Feeders Suet feeders are not nearly as complex as some seed , The Ultimate Comfort - Top 5 Reasons For Getting an Awning feeders. They can be as simple as a mesh sack - the kind often used for onions and potatoes. Toss a chunk of raw suet in an empty mesh sack and hang it on a tree , Granite Countertops: An Overview trunk or from a branch or pole. A popular way of presenting suet is in homemade suet logs. Perches are not necessary and if used will attract grackles and starlings. Woodpeckers and small clinging birds , Love to garden but short on money? Here’s 10 money saving id can get a grip on the rough wood. , Bathroom vanities and cabinets come in many different styles Stuffed with suet, these logs have woodpeckers as regular visitors. Standing dead trees , Easy Steps to Composting can be drilled and filled like giant suet logs. If meant to attract woodpeckers, a suet feeder is likely to be found most quickly if it is attached initially to a tree , How To Sharpen Lawn Mower Blades trunk. Once the woodpeckers have found it, the feeder can be moved to other spots and the birds , Advice about the latest and accurate advice witrel="nofollow" h reference t will follow. Suet cages are sometimes combined with bird , Family Meal Planning feeders. Health Manufacturing makes a beautiful , Bathroom vanities and cabinets come in many different styles redwood hopper feeder with suet cages at either end, the Classic Suet 'n Seed , 25 Christmas Stocking Filler Ideas For Your Teenage Girl Feeder. Woodlink makes a similar model with a copper roof. , Lawn Aeration — The Cure for Soggy Grass Carpets About the Author Louise Desmarteau is the Owner of BirdShopper.com, an online , Prefabricated Homes Primer e-tailer offering the highest quality wild bird , Feng Shui Colors And What They Represent feeders and birdhouses on the market today. BirdShopper's staff is very knowledgeable and can assist you with any questions you might have in selecting the product(s) that are right for you. Visit BirdShopper today. |
  
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