Bird feeder
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A birdfeeder, bird feeder, or bird table is a device placed out-of-doors to supply bird food to birds. The success of a birdfeeder in attracting birds depends on its placement and the kinds of seeds offered, as different species have different preferences.
The most familiar feeders supply seeds such as millet, sunflower, safflower, thistle (niger or nyjer), and rapeseed or canola seed, to seed-eating birds.
Bird feeders are often used for home birdwatching, and many people keep webcams trained on feeders where birds often congregate.
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[edit] Types of feeders
Seed Feeders are most common. These can vary in design from tubes to hoppers and trays. Sunflower seed or mixed seed are popular for use in these feeders and will attract many songbirds such as cardinals, finches, and chickadees. While most are designed to dispense sunflower-sized foods there are specialty "Finch Feeders" with smaller openings to allow the tiny Guisotia abbisinica type of thistle seed which is a favorite of smaller finches.
Hummingbird feeders, rather than dispensing seed, supply liquid nourishment to hummingbirds, in the form of a sugar solution. This mixture is often coloured red to attract the birds, but this is unnecessary and the food coloring may be detrimental to the birds' health.[1]
Oriole feeders, which are traditionally colored orange, also supply such artificial nectar and are designed to serve New World orioles, which have a differently shaped beak and tongue. These orioles and some other birds will also come to fruit foods, such as grape jelly or half an orange on a peg.
A suet feeder is typically a metal cage-like construction with a plastic coating which contains a cake or block of suet to feed woodpeckers, flickers, nuthatches and many other species of insect eaters.
Providing a varied array of tastes and feeding venues will result in less competition for food and dining spots.
[edit] Squirrels
Squirrels may also help themselves to the contents of bird feeders, often not merely feeding, but carrying away the food to their hoard. There are various anti-squirrel devices available to thwart squirrels' attempts to raid bird feeders. Several manufacturers produce feeders with perches that collapse under the weight of anything heavier than a bird, or that use battery power to lightly shock an intruder or spin the perching area to fling it off.
Sometimes the placement of a squirrel feeder is the best way to keep squirrels away from bird feeders. Squirrel feeders typically offer a whole dried cob of corn, often at the top of a rotating stick to add a bit of amusement to the antics.
[edit] Seasonal use
While bird feeders are thought of by some as winter projects, urban and some suburban areas can benefit from bird feeders year-round. The absence of plentiful food sources, as well as the increasingly toxic environment created by the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, can make the process of finding safe and plentiful food difficult for birds in these areas.
[edit] Negative impacts
Bird feeders do not always have a positive impact on bird populations and biodiversity. Depending on the feeder's design and the type of feed used, common nuisance birds such as the house sparrow can dominate the use of the feeder. In North America, house sparrows threaten populations of native birds such as the bluebird by disrupting their nesting sites.
