DYI Bird Feeder & Bird Bath Project - episode 1

Our current bird feeder was a $1 score at a garage sale last summer. We had it right up against the window for the whole winter. It was awesome, we had tons of birds (well to be honest, it was pretty much just chickadees and a couple of raggedy-assed red squirrels), but now that spring has sprung we've been trying to attract a few new residents to the neighbourhood. Between the greedy squirrels who sit there eating for hour long stretches and twitching like a rock hungry epileptic crackhead and the jittery chickadees who spill more food than they eat, there is a ton of sunflower seeds strewn about. All of it seems to be attracting lots of different birds that only eat off the ground; sparrows, grackles and juncos so far. I have started to throw extra food on the ground and it seems to be attracting more birds.

After some google research I decided to try to rig another feeder for the backyard, and a bird bath fpr the front yard. Supposedly once your bird bath is established, it will attract more birds than a feeder. Not having any cash, I have tried to use whatever was available in the garage. So far, it's pretty much been a disaster. Not a single bird has bathed so far, and it's been a week. I used a metal fish trivet balanced in a planter. I read that birds like flowing water so I suspended a water jug and stabbed a few holes in the bottom. The water flow has been a bit inconsistent, so I guess I need bigger stabbing holes. Supposedly it takes a few days before the birds don't think the bath will eat and attack them, but so far it hasn't inspired a single sitting yet. I think I might relocate it closer to our blue spruce bush so it can have more of an overhang. Hopefully I'll be able to do an update with some photos soon.

Here's my lame attempt for our new backyard feeder. It's this useless 50's BBQ, and I filled it with some of the sunflower seeds. I also spread some seeds around the base of the apple tree. There's also the stump I use for chopping wood. So far, 1 week in, only the red squirrels have noticed it. Hopefully it will become the new cool spot for all the kids. We have a lot of woodpeckers (Woody, Downy, Pileated, Red-Headed) that frequent the woods behind the house that I would love to start stopping by.