birds | Mommy Ramblings

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March 28, 2017 · 4:17 pm

8 of My Favorite Bird Feeders

I love watching the birds at my feeders during the day, at night we have the pleasure of seeing southern flying squirrels, which is really cool! I have used a lot of bird feeders over the years. I want to share some of my favorites that have stood the test of time and can be found all around my yard.

Watching the birds brings me a lot of joy and provides me with thousands of photo opportunities which is something this hobby photographer loves. These are my 8 favorite bird feeders:

The No/No Red Ball Feeder by Perky Pet

This fun-shaped feeder comes in red and green. I use the red but red and green would be perfect for Christmas since they look like ornaments. They are low maintenance and supposed to be squirrel and small animal proof. They are better, but not foolproof. I have some pretty smart squirrels and frankly, as long as they do not break the feeders, I don’t mind them coming in for a snack. Even if they do manage the tough task of removing the top, this feeder has not broken. That is a huge plus as plastic feeders don’t stand a chance!

It is easy to fill and holds 6 cups of black oiled sunflowers very well. I have a few of these and they are out all year-long in the frigid, snowy winters of Upstate New York and hold up well. The birds really like them and they are one of my most flocked to feeders in my yard. I just noticed Amazon has the green feeder on a super sale now for only $5.98. I am picking up a few more because I like color and I can always find more places to use them on my property. I think they would make a nice gift for teachers at the end of the school year. I guess I should get a few more.

Ladybug Mesh No/No Feeder by Perky Pet

This feeder is one I bought when shopping with my young sons in our local garden center. It adds a whimsical touch to our yard. It does not hold as much as the ball feeders and it is a little harder to fill, but not terrible. The birds really like this feeder and I think it might be the contrasting colors that make it stand out. The little legs add a perching area for the birds coming in for a snack.

No/No Bronze Tray Bird Feeder by Perky Pet

This is a feeder with a huge capacity of 2.5 lbs. I like this feeder because of its large capacity, if I have to be away for a day or two, I know the birds can count on this feeder. It can feed many birds at once which is great, because we have many birds that dine at our house.

Perky Pet Metal Tube Feeders

I love these metal feeders almost as much as the birds do. I like the colors, they remind of colorful houses in the Caribbean. I hang them off my porch which may occur for my only issue. The squirrels can, with a lot of work, pop out the plastic seed guard and perch. They are very tough and I have been able to pop them right back, but I think if they were not in such an easy area for the squirrels to reach them, it would not be an issue.

They are so easy to fill, the red and blue hold a nice amount of seed. I just love the look of the bright colors among my home and gardens. Red is the largest, then blue and yellow is the smallest.

Wildbird Care Vertical Cedar Bird Feeder

I like this feeder because the seed guards and perches are screwed in Even though we have squirrels dropping or flying by for a treat, they cannot remove them and happily snack from the tray on the bottom. It is very attractive and is a beautiful addition to our yard. This is another feeder I will be buying a few more of.

Droll Yankees New Generation Finch Flocker

Along with black oiled sunflower seeds, I like to put out Nyjer or thistle seed and since they are so tiny, they need a special feeder. I have used sock feeders, but they are hard to refill and can get moldy. I wanted something better. I found the Droll Yankees New Generation 8″ Finch Flocker fit my needs.

This feeder is very well made and allows for several of our colorful finches to eat at the same time. An internal seed baffle directs seed to an additional seed port located at the lowest level of seed to ensure that the feeder empties completely without allowing seed build-up. It is easy to fill and holds 1/2 lb. of seed. It has a manufacturer’s lifetime warranty against squirrel damage.

Kaytee Mesh Feeder

This feeder is perfect for filling with dried mealworms that our Bluebirds love!

Stokes Select Double Suet Bird Feeder with Metal Roof

If one is good, two is better, right? My birds seem to think so! The Stokes Select Double Suet Bird Feeder has a metal roof and room for two suet cakes. It looks nice and gets a lot of traffic. Stokes also makes a larger cylinder style that I may give a try. If you feed suet, check these out!

I will not get into hummingbird or oriole feeders now, I will let you know about those in an upcoming post. Let me know what your favorite bird feeders are.

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Filed under Home & Garden, Outdoor, Resources, Review, Shopping

Tagged as Best Feeders, Bird Feeders, Bird Watching, birds, Hobby

March 16, 2011 · 10:07 pm

Glorious!!!

That is the word I would use to describe the almost 3 mile walk I just took. It was very mild here and although it was not sunny, Spring was definitely in the air. While I have walked on mild days in January there are many differences today. Today, the smells are different, and like I can smell the coming of the first snow in Autumn, I can smell Spring. I can’t tell you exactly what it is but it is unmistakable and fills me with a hope and faith that is hard to describe. This walk did as much if not more for my mental fitness as for my physical. I walked with Sassy and Zoey, not daring to take Delilah, who would probably decided a few hundred feet into the walk, that she did not want to continue. She is truly too heavy for me to lift up and I had no stroller to wheel her home in, if I somehow managed to lift her. When I take her, Jimi and I will need to go together and if she decides to just lie down and not move any more, one of us will have to run back home for the car.

Anyway, I walked with a smile on my face, so grateful for the chance to walk in the beauty that surrounds me. As I get older I know too well just how short life is. How we never know if it will be our last day or a loved one’s last day on this Earth. Given the tragedy in Japan, I do not take lightly the fact that I can walk, breathe fresh air and feel safe. Sometimes I feel like Heidi, but I love “my mountain.” It will not be long until the remaining thin layer of ice on the lake melts, until the water is full of boats and kids and life. While I was thinking of why it felt so different to walk today than say in January on a mild day, it hit me! The birds, the beautiful songbirds, our snow birds who take off to spend their winters in the south were back. Not only were they back but they were singing loudly and it was so beautiful to hear. As we came upon a house on the other side of the lake, a man who was putting up sheet rock inside a house stepped outside. It was near quitting time for him and he was putting some of his tools in the bed of his truck. He saw Sassy first and called to his co-worker in the house, “Hey, a little dog!” Then he saw Zoey and I approach. He was adjusting things in his truck and he said, “Wow, more people walking around here then cars.” I don’t know if he expected this small private lake to be like the Indy 500, but he said it, like it almost annoyed him.

I replied, “Well, it’s a beautiful day!”

“Could be better”, was his flat reply.

I thought for a moment, maybe he was having a bad day. Maybe he was the kind of person who felt everything could be better. Maybe, he had a fight with his wife or lost someone close to him. However, I told him that is was good enough and that it will get better. He muttered something and I thought a moment and as I passed the house I turned and looked over my shoulder in his direction and called out, “I’ll take it!”