CHOOSING A BIRD FEEDER

There are a wide variety of bird feeders on the market from plastic tubes to elaborate birdhouses fit only for the royalty of the feathered kingdom. A visit to a good garden center will give you an idea of what's available and what will best fit your budget. Remember that some of the cheaper alternatives may be just as effective as expensive models.The important thing is that your feeder works properly and allows your featured friends access to your seeds.

You may even want to try building your own feeder or birdhouse. There are all types of plans available and, of course, you can design your own from scratch. If you plan on building something more elaborate than a simple plastic feeding tube, building materials become important. Wood is usually the best choice. It's easy to work with and maintain. More importantly, though, it doesn't radiate heat as much as metal and some plastics. This is an important consideration for two reasons. First, some fat-saturated bird foods like suet cakes will turn rancid very quickly if exposed to heat. Secondly, if you are building a birdhouse for nesting birds as part of your feeder, building from wood will minimize the heat build-up within the birdhouse. In even moderate sunshine, a metal birdhouse can quickly turn into a deathtrap for eggs and newly-hatched birds.

The choice of feeder depends to a great extent on the kind of food that you're going to be using. Suet cakes, for instance, which are blocks of fat and seed, can't flow through tubes and are best secured behind wire mesh. Though effective, suet blocks require regular cleaning and maintenance and this can deter some bird enthusiasts.

A better choice for many homeowners is loose seed. Birdseed comes in many varieties from mixed preparations of different seeds to specific seeds, like thistle, chosen to attract a particular species of bird. In general, though, many birding authorities recommend a seed mix which includes black oil sunflower seeds. Sunflower seeds are a very good "all-round" birdseed due to its high nutritional and fat content. Unfortunately, sunflower seeds are also preferred by squirrels who will raid your feeder looking for sunflower seeds. A great advantage of loose birdseed is that it flows easily and is ideal, therefore, for low-maintenance tubes and feeders.