Do you want to enjoy the entertainment that wild birds can provide during winter right from inside your home? Well, I will tell you what has worked for me for many years.
I started by putting up a high “T” post of 1-inch pipe to hang bird feeders on. The “T” is formed with a “T” coupling at the top of the pipe and a tight-fitting sapling stuck through that coupling to hang out about 2 feet from each end of the coupling. The sapling is about 9 feet above ground level. The reason it’s so high is to prevent squirrels from jumping up to the feeders and keep deer from reaching the feeders (deer will stand on their hind legs to get at food).
In order not to bump up the threads on the top end of the pipe for the coupling, I drive a short but larger-diameter pipe into the ground first and then place the one-inch pipe inside. A screw placed on each end of that sapling keeps the feeders from slipping off should the wind get them swinging.
Now, where do you place that feeding pole? Well, it needs to be far enough (10 or 12 feet) away from any trees, bushes or buildings so that squirrels can’t leap to the feeders. Those guys are very clever and they will consume most of your bird food if you don’t prevent them; not to mention, they’ll chew up your feeders.
The final addition to the feeding pole is a good cone guard about halfway up that one-inch pipe, which will prevent squirrels from climbing up to the feeders. This cone can usually be bought at any hardware store or made from a piece of sheet metal. The pole itself can be placed close to the house (for close bird observation) as long as the squirrels cannot use the house to gain access to the feeders (by diving off the roof, for instance).
Now that we have solved the squirrel problem (oh, they’ll still come, but they’ll be limited to what the birds spill off the feeders), what do we put in the feeders? I use only black oil sunflower seeds. Yes, the shells fall to the ground after the birds crack open the seeds to get the hearts, and that does make a mess, but the birds we love to see really like them and the shells can be cleaned up in the spring. I buy seeds in 50-pound bags from a feed store, usually waiting for a special sale. Avoid those “bird seed mixes” as there gets to be a lot of junk seed in them that does not attract the birds we want to see.
So: One side of the “T” pole has a sunflower seed feeder hanging from it, and on the other side, I hang a wire cage of suet for woodpeckers. Because those feeders are high up in the air, I use a pole with a hook on the end to raise and lower the feeders from the “T” when they need refilling.
You are now set up to have a bird paradise right next to your window. Just keep the feeders filled and be assured, you will enjoy their company as I do. You can even keep the show going year-round if you choose.
I didn’t feed the birds all summer long this year like I usually do. Around late summer, the feeder was filled, but for a month, nothing really came by except a family of nuthatches. Come fall, I still wasn’t getting any birds and I became concerned. After that first snowstorm hit, some goldfinches showed up but nothing like the normal high numbers of birds that I’m used to. The recent high winds and snow finally got more birds to the feeders, including some cardinals, titmouses, woodpeckers, nuthatches, more goldfinches and a few blue jays. The seed feeder is now getting emptied every day. My guess is that because of the mild fall weather the birds were finding enough food in their normal environment and it took some nasty weather to drive them into my woods and to my feeders.
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There are a lot of deer around now and they have learned that there is a lot of delicious stuff around people’s houses. The set-up above will prevent deer from getting into your bird feeders, but you need to think about the shrubbery around your home. Last year, deer nearly stripped bare my yews, and many folks informed me they had similar problems.
In my travels at night, I see a lot of deer wandering into yards to consume shrubbery. They know there’s good, safe eating around houses. We need to start thinking about protecting our shrubbery. Maybe we’ll touch on that subject next week.