Let your imagination take wing - innovative birdfeeders

Sunset, June, 1994 by Jim McCausland

The silly, the sublime, the wise, the whimsical...The Nature Company/Sunset Bird Feeder Design Contest had them all. Honor the winners, but let the birds have the final vote.

What do you get when you ask people to design a better bird feeder? The Nature Company and Sunset Magazine decided to find out, by cosponsoring a bird feeder design contest. A total of 600 feeders flocked in from amateur and professional designers around the United States and Canada and as far away as Europe.

The entrants ranged from architects to backyard birders. The feeders were made from an array of materials: bamboo, wood, ceramics, glass, steel, wire, acrylic plastic, and high-density polyethylene. The designs ranged from the silly to the sublime. Some ranked as works of garden art. Oakland sculptor Bryan Johnson-French, for example, submitted his self-portrait as a bird feeder, noting that "with a beard and pointed birdlike nose, it is an unmistakably accurate caricature of myself."

When the day came to select the winners from 100 finalists, the eight jurors (including this writer) saw great variety and whimsy, as well as innovative ideas that make the art of bird feeding really take wing.

We salute the six prizewinning amateur and professional designers and show some of their feeders.

Bear in mind that the real judges--the feathered ones--haven't had the chance to cast their votes on most of these feeders yet.

Judging a feeder

The best feeders have large, easy-to-fill reservoirs that keep seed dry and deliver it freely in all kinds of weather. (If seed gets wet, it rots, sprouts, or freezes.)

With these things in mind, the jurors were unfailingly impressed by weathertight feeders. Some feeders were designed to provide passive weather protection, sheltering seed with overhanging eaves; others were active, using wind vanes to swivel the feeding platform away from the weather.

Some very good nonweatherproof feeders were designed to hang under eaves or to be used in dry weather only. The jurors also liked squirrelproof designs using ceramic and wire components. Finally, the jurors were impressed by feeders that could be cleaned easily--an important factor in avian health.

Satisfying avian appetites

Most bird feeders are designed to attract seed- or insect-eating birds. The feeder-food combination you use determines the birds you'll draw. Many bird lovers supply food year-round. Birds need it most in winter, especially in harsh climates. In spring and fall, feeders attract migrating birds as they pass through. And in summer, you get the pleasure of watching adult birds feeding with their young.

When you first set out a feeder, don't expect instant gratification: it can take birds a few days or weeks to start using the feeder.

Seed and nut eaters. Different seeds attract different birds. Juncos, for example, prefer millet seed; goldfinches can't get enough niger thistle seed; finches, grosbeaks, and siskins gobble black oil sunflower seed; pigeons, doves, and quail go for cracked corn; and jays love peanuts. Experiment to learn what works best where you live. The second-place professional feeder was designed with three compartments, each for a different kind of seed; birds go to the one they like best.

If you choose a single-compartment feeder, try a wild bird seed mixture or alternate seed varieties to see what works best.

Insect eaters. Suet--animal fat--is a good substitute for insects. You can buy it from a butcher in chunks or, better, ground. Some people melt suet in a saucepan on low heat, solidify it in a refrigerator, then scoop it out as needed. Suet feeders should be cleaned every few days and uneaten suet replaced (it can become rancid).

An alternative to suet is a lard-and-oatmeal mixture developed by Ken Short of Bainbridge Island, Washington. Melt a 1-pound brick of lard in a saucepan, then slowly stir in 2 quarts of quick-cooking oats. Allow the mixture to cool and solidify, then use it as you would suet. Birds take longer to recognize this as food, but once they do, they keep coming back; the mixture keeps longer in the feeder than suet.

The chain-mail feeder shown on the opposite page is designed to dispense suet, and small birds like chickadees can get at the feeder from any side and pick out what they need.

Woodpeckers, too, turn to suet from time to time. The first-place amateur winner shown on the opposite page is designed to be pecked apart by woodpeckers going after the suet disks inside. Like many of the feeders in the contest, this design is brilliantly conceived, well executed, and utterly untested.

Prizewinning feeders

AMATEUR

1st: Woodpecker feeder; Jeremy Knapp, Kent, Connecticut.

2nd: Weather vane feeder; Ken Erdman, Loleta, California.

3rd: Suet feeder; Sean O'Hara, Providence, Rhode Island.

PROFESSIONAL

1st: FM radio transmitter-feeder; Dan Schmidt, Monticello, Wisconsin.

2nd: Triple Towers feeder; Ellen Happ, Toby Hoffman, Cara Regan, and Lynn Taylor, Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

3rd: A-frame feeder; John and Wanita Hodges, Everett, Washington.