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Welcome
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Cardinal Feeders We feature several feeders with perches suitable for the cardinal, a bird most comfortable feeding on the ground. Offer bitter seeds such carthamus (safflower) seeds instead of the sweet black sunflowers. Safflower seeds resemble small sunflower seeds and are distasteful to undesirable introduced species such as the house sparrow. Birds are immune to their bitter taste include the cardinal and the mourning dove. Mourning doves tend to sit on platform feeders (the cardinal's favorite) and intimidate other songbirds by virtue of their larger size. Therefore, perching feeders that are just right to accomodate cardinals and just too small for mourning doves are ideal. The gentle doves will happily settle for the seed spilled below the feeder. Best choices are a Squirrel Buster Pluswith the cardinal perching ring with ports that close under the weight of heavier birds and squirrel, and the Yankee Whipper with perches that collapse under excess weight. |
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Goldfinch Feeders Our offerings are limited to feeders with metal perches, as squirrels have been known to go on rampages and chew off all plastic perches to oblivion in minutes. Because sparrows do learn how to use the standard thistle (nyjer or niger) feeders, we offer Yule-Hyde's Colibri upside down feeder. Here, the feeding ports are below the perches, rather than above them. Only goldfinches and determined chickadees are acrobatic enough to feed from these upside-down thistle feeder ports. |
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Blue Jay Feeders In-shell peanut feeders (peanut cages) are a great way to feed peanuts to the raucous blue jays, and have them stick around rather than grab a peanut and leave. They have to work for their peanuts, just like people... watch them use their neck and beaks much like woodpeckers, and flip the nuts around until they get the very last one. The cages make it difficult for grackles and cowbirds to get to the peanuts. They will take the peanuts that are small enough to slip between the bars, so try to buy large ones if you can. The In-Shell Peanut Feeder comes with a wire hanger, but we recommend that it be removed (we'll do it for you if you ask, it takes strong pliers), and that the feeder be fastened with screws onto a wood platform, on top of a pole protected with a squirrel baffle. A second feeder can be screwed atop the peanut cage, such as the Droll Yankee Tube Feeder with Screw Base. If you wish to install a second feeder above the peanut cage, make sure you buy a large one, as pigeons can perch on the platform and stretch their necks above the small cage and to reach the second feeder above. |
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Pileated Woodpecker Suet Feeders and Houses The best way to attract and help in the conservation of our native woodpeckers, which suffer from nesting site competition with sparrows and starlings,is, quite honestly, to keep snags on your property. NOT removing large, diseased, bug-infested trees, as long as they do not pose a danger, or only sawing off the top branches of a dead tree and leaving the tall trunk intact, is ideal, especially for the majestic pileated woodpecker, a bird that forages on large trunks and flies about in the forest canopy. If this is not possible for safety or aesthetic reasons, we suggest the Suet Sandwich. Standard suet feeders, including upside-down suet feeders, and those with tail props, are quickly taken over by squirrels and starlings that can collectively mob quality, nutritious suet (containing nuts, or peanut butter) before woodpeckers find them. Many birders resort to using plain suet or lard to discourage these pests, but it contains only empty calories. They are mostly unsuited to accomodate the large pileated woodpecker. The Suet Sandwich can only be used by birds with long tongues (the woodpeckers) and has, on two sides, large surfaces areas made from bark, the woodpeckers' preferred landing. We have a special roosting box and useful tips to attract these impressive birds by providing shelter on your property, so that you may have a closer look. |
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Hummingbird Feeders and Housing We have elected to offer only hummingbird feeders that feature perches (the birds do welcome the rest!), that cannot leak, and are easy to clean, refill and dishwasher safe, and don't have bee guards that trap ubiquitous earwigs. We offer the Hummingbird Bouquet line of feeders from Par-A-Sol and they not only satisfy all these vital, basic requirements for hummingbird feeders, but they are also very, very easy on the eyes. They can be combined with pretty Upside-Down Umbrella Ant Moats that, when properly filled with water, stop ant and earwing traffic to the sugary nectar. If your feeders are in a sunny spot, consider a Nectar Shade to prevent over-heating and hastening spoilage of the nectar. You can't really build a "humingbird house" but Diane and Dan True have designed a Hummingbird Platform that seem to work wonders in their hummingbird-rich area, where there may exist significant intraspecific competition for suitable nesting sites. |
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Ultimate Bluebird House Thanks to the vigilance and devotion of wild bird lovers that have begun to offer Bluebird Houses, the Eastern Bluebird is making a comeback all the way into Canada. This bird had dangerously dwindled in numbers, displaced with aggressive introduced species, the usual house sparrows and European Starlings. The bluebird house we recommend opens on one side for cleaning, and on the other side for observation (the wood door opens to a plexiglas window) to monitor the health of the baby birds with minimal impact. If you are succesful in attracting bluebirds to nest, why not give them extra help during breeding season with a Mealworm Feeder? This feeder requires the birds to enter or exit through entrance holes without perches, a feat easily accomplished by the bluebird, but challenging for other insectivorous species. The plexiglas enclosure is great for observation, and keeping the mealworms dry, but do make sure to place the feeder out of the sun's hot rays, as this might kill the mealworms. Mealworms can be obtained for local pet supplies store that sell live reptile food or through mail-order. |
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Mealworm Feeders Feeding mealworms (live or dried) is a fabulous new way to feed clinging, insectovorous birds such as bluebirds, chickadees and woodpeckers. Check out out meal worm feeder page. |
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Bat Housing For serious bat enthusiasts, we recommend the Large Sunshine Bat House or the novel Observation Bat House with its Plexiglas observation window. For those afraid of what the neighbors will think, the Rustic Bat Shelter, from Country Nests, has the distinction of being by far the most attractive in the market - it makes your fondness for these fantastic, yet misunderstood creatures a little less obvious! |
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Squngee Squirrel Feeder Feeding birds is all about helping out our native species and excluding the foreign sparrows and starlings, and, of course, squirrels and their insatiable appetite for seeds, suet, and... feeder plastic perches and wood! The Squngee is a corn-on-the-cob feeder on a bungee cord that bounces up and down and swings about as the wildly acrobatic squirrels feed without difficulty. Kids love it. |
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Yankee Family The Yankee Family bird feeders comprises four feeders with either motorized or collapsible perch systems that make squirrel-proofing fun. These are large feeders, holding 2.3 kg (5 lbs) of seed, in long, 53 cm (12 in.) tubes. View them in action: The motorized Yankee Flipper as well as the mechanical Yankee Tipper and Yankee Whipper are all suitable for most songbirds such as cardinals, and the Yankee Dipper is especially made for smaller songbirds that include chickadees and goldfinches. |