my (and my mom's) birdfeeders

My bird feeders are a hodgepodge: half falling over, half broken, and more often empty than filled. Today, the birds and squirrels have emptied most of them.



This green feeder is my nicest, even though it's bent and faded. A spring-loaded perch closes when a large bird or squirrel tries to eat. Only smaller birds can perch and get at the seeds. It's very nice. Problems I've had with it: larger seeds get stuck, accumulate, and clog up the seed opening; it seems that water gets into the seed area somehow. Now that I look, the "spring" (that little wire) is sticking out. I'll need to fix that.

The feeder on the left below is like my mom's. She has empty plastic bottles strung on a cord that holds several feeders. No squirrels. My feeder on the right below is on a pole - until it falls over.... There's a plastic platform below the feeder. Squirrels can't get up the pole past the platform. So - no squirrels. However big birds, like blue jays, can get on it. Often they hog it keeping small birds away.



My feeder on the left below is freely available to almost any bird or squirrel that comes by. Squirrels hang down and eat for what seems like hours. My thistle feeder is on the right below. No squirrels can get up - or maybe they're not interested in thistle.