Thursday, November 29, 2007

Bird Feeding, part 4

Edit: Sorry, I haven't been in the blogging mood lately. I even forgot Toxicology Tuesday this week, a first! I had a post prepared, but it completely slipped my mind. You'll get that one next week. Here's an "ant" post on bird feeding that I have been sitting on for a while, to tide you over. I have a new feature to share with you tomorrow, and up-coming, a post on my latest hobby.

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My
primary birdseed is black oil sunflower. It is smaller and easier for the little birds to open than striped sunflower, and is high in oil. Fat is a very energy-dense nutrient, and essential to winter bird feeding.
You can use many styles of feeders for black oil - tube feeders, platform or hopper styles, you can even scatter it on the ground, but my favorite feeder is this Magnum feeder by Birds Choice. It holds five pounds of seed, so if I am going to be away for a long weekend, I don't worry about the feeders all running dry at the same time.


All types of little birds and woodpeckers can cling to the mesh of this feeder, and cardinals do occasionally perch on the wide seed catching tray. I used one of the original designs of this feeder, when it was two pie pans and some screening, but the newer model is superior in construction. Unfortunately, you can't take it apart, so scrubbing the inside is a little difficult.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh I can't wait for the new hobby. Is it pottery?

KGMom said...

I did check for Toxic Tuesday. I thought maybe you were still turkey hungover and just couldn't do a toxic post!

Mary said...

I thought you were away on vacation.

I feed mainly black oil sunflower also. I like the size of that feeder. You mentioned it's difficult to clean...and reminded me that all of my feeders need a good scrubbing!

Kathy said...

My wild bird friends love black oil sunflower seeds. I feed them mixed seed also, but their favorite is sunflower. Squirrels seem to plant a few seeds each year, which the birds love to eat right off the seed heads. Maybe if I get ambitious I'll plant a bed of them next spring.