Friday, March 19, 2010

Day 69 of 365, Feeding & Attracting Birds

Day 69 of 365, I was quite busy today.  I revisited some images that I had taken last spring.  When I saw these orange slices on a string, I thought about how thoughtful and fun it is to feed the little birds.  I found this website and copy/pasted their ideas for bird feeders & simple perch projects.  It is  called Kidz Korner by Kim Gray.  If you go to their website, they also provide a chart of different varieties of birds and their feeding preferences.  If you would like to draw certain birds into your surroundings, you might want to check out that chart. 
 Here are a few of her good tips:
*****following excerpt, copy/pasted from http://www.osweb.com/kidzkorner/feeder.htm*****
"You don't need to buy fancy bird feeders to feed your backyard friends.
You can:

Set a pie tin on a stool or flat topped tree trunk or hang it in a hanging plant hanger; dump it out after a rain, or punch drainage holes in it, and elevate it a little by placing small rocks or twigs beneath it. (All birds, specially Juncos, Cardinals, Jays, Sparrows)


Punch holes on either side of a plastic pop bottle, stick a twig all the way through with its ends sticking out for perches and poking more holes nearby for the birds to pull the seeds out. Then hang the bottle by tying a string around its neck. (Finches really like these!)

Coat a pine cone with peanut butter, roll it in birdseed, and hang it from a tree branch;


Use a rectangle of old window = screening. Wear heavy cotton gloves and use needle-nosed pliers to crimp the loose wire edges back (so they won't poke the birds nor snag their feathers), fold it in half, run two string hangers through the corners on each side, and hanging it. Slide in a suet/birdseed cake from the grocery store, or make a "cake" of oatmeal, birdseed, and peanut butter. (Cardinals, Jays, Robins, = Sparrows)

Stick a piece of bread, a doughnut, or half of an orange, on a twiggy branch of the tree (the Orioles will LOVE the orange!)

Tie a string around the neck of a baby food jar and fill with orange juice. Hang it from a tree. (It will hang tilted, but Orioles will perch on the rim and take dainty sips).

Scatter bread crumbs on the = ground."   

visit http://www.osweb.com/kidzkorner/feeder.htm for more bird tips and other ideas from Kim Gray of Kidz Korner.