Bird Feeder Option

I have all sorts of bird feeders, from nyger seed socks to house-like gravity feed styles. My preference is the platform type because it can accommodate more birds, and I can film straight across the platform. There’s nothing obstructing the view.

Many of the typical commercially made platform feeders are designed to be hung. I did see some that can be mounted on a pole. The hanging design means it swings in the wind, and seeds can be tossed to the ground. That’s good for the birds that prefer to eat off the ground, but it means that the other birds are without food until it’s replenished. When we put up a platform feeder in the North Pond meadow, we secured it to the top of a wooden post. Robert made that feeder out of wood, and it is tilted so that, first I can get good shots of the birds, and second to allow for the rain to run off. He also installed scrap “horse panel” wire perches around the top, which gives the birds something to grab upon landing and allows them time to ponder which seed, peanut or mealworm they find enticing.

With the platform bottom made of wood, if the birds don’t consume all the seed (which has become a silly statement since I am having to refill it every day!) the seeds can be affected by a heavy rain and begin to mold. So, we have a piece of perforated metal on which we pour the seeds.

When Robert mowed down the dense bramble at the west side of the pond (which we refer to as the Lower Pond feeder), we trimmed a “sucker” branch of a volunteer (weed) tree to about five foot high. Then, we put the feeder atop of that. I wanted something that was flat and highly perforated so that it would drain, but with holes that weren’t so big that the seeds would fall though them. An idea popped into my head. I went into my office closet and took out a couple of letter trays that I had decided weren’t actually helping me keep my desk organized but rather were a great place for stuff to accumulate. The powder coated “wire mesh letter trays” can be found under “desk organizer” at Amazon or another on-line shop.

The letter tray was the PERFECT option for a platform bird feeder. Best of all, it was much less expensive than the ones you can buy in the Wild Bird supplies section of a retail or on-line store.

I adorned my tray with branches to offer a more natural perch. My letter tray has three sides that are probably 2 inches high. The forth side (where you would slide paper into it) doesn’t have as high of a wall. So, we wired a larger branch on that side to hold in the seeds but still allow me to film the birds that land on the platform. There are models of letter trays that have four equally high sides, which might be a good option for some applications.

I suspect that the steel, powder coated material will last several years – even in the outdoors – and it can be washed more easily than wood which can harbor germs. It’s light weight and very inexpensive.