The platform feeder
We have a Heath Multi-Purpose Platform Feeder, made of redwood which has been one of my favorite feeders. That may not be a very meaningful statement coming from me, however. I love all my feeders. Let’s say it was a surprise to me just how much I would like it. It got added to my wish list after reading several books on bird feeding, although I had never previously seen much use for one. What does it offer that is not offered by the hopper feeder and the ground feeder?
I may not see much of a difference, but the birds certainly do! Ours has a large screw in the middle of the feeder to hold a corn cob. The squirrels do not pay very much attention to this obvious ploy to fill their tummies with something besides sunflower seeds. Blue jays and red-bellied woodpeckers, however, seem to love it. When the orioles first arrived, I tried placing orange slices on the screw, but this did not appear to be successful. The male oriole seemed to prefer to eat sunflower seeds off the ground and the female preferred a suet feeder that was hung in the pine tree. Birds which favor this feeder (from our experience):
goldfinches
house finches
blue jays
cardinals
purple finches
red-bellied woodpeckers
Our sparrows, cowbirds and grackles will eat from it when the ground feeder is empty, but they generally leave it alone.
We have tried safflower seed in the platform feeder, but without success. Since birds can be leery of new foods, I am not sure if we lacked the patience, or if safflower truly is a second-rate seed in the eyes of our birds. We fill it predominantly with black oil sunflower seed, and occasionally add some dried fruit or other tidbit we think the birds might like.
Don’t forget the comment contest going on for the month of August here at 451 Press. Every comment counts!
platform feeder, feeder, bird feeding, birdwatching, birding, backyard birding
August 16th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
We do most of our feeding (birds, raccoons, possums, voles, mice, and squirrels) around the perimeter of the deck that is off the kitchen.
Among the feeding “stations” is a platform made of a half-sheet of plywood mounted to a corner of the deck-rail such that the platform extends into a mulberry tree that earlier birds planted in just the right place.
The platform has a border made out of wooden moulding. It gets replaced every five years ago when the weather finally gets to it.
We stock it with cracked corn, black oil sunflower, “bushy tail mix”, safflower, stale bread, selected other kitchen scraps.
We get LBBS, nuthatches, chicadees, all sorts of woodpeckers, grackles mourning doves, starlings, bluejays, cardinals, grosbeaks, snowbirds, and I’ve probably forgotten half of them, depending on the season.
August 17th, 2007 at 10:48 am
Hi Dana,
Thanks for visiting my blog. I agree that desert landscaping wouldn’t “play in Omaha” because of our bold, spiky silhouettes and all the gray-green foliage and pale earth. Omaha seems to call for something soft around the edges to complement the dark soil and abundant green.
Do you know that Arizona has more species of hummingbirds (18) than any state other than Texas? The Southwest is quite a haven for hummingbirds.
August 29th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Do the birds scatter much of the seed to the ground?
September 4th, 2007 at 11:16 am
Silvia, I’m sorry it took me so long to get back to you. They do scatter a little, but not very much. We fill ours with black oil sunflower seed so they do not push it around too much.
Where I live, it is very windy. We get gusts up to 50 mph without any storms. Our feeders are in a somewhat sheltered location, but I cannot be sure that the scattering we see isn’t from the wind.
September 19th, 2007 at 6:24 am
[...] The Platform Feeder, [...]
October 3rd, 2007 at 3:30 am
[...] Hammer the acorns to crack the shell and break up the meat inside. You can place the acorns on a platform feeder for nut-loving birds such as woodpeckers and jays. The pieces can also be mixed with a homemade [...]
April 23rd, 2009 at 11:50 am
Very Cool