As I mentioned in my post about becoming a homeowner, I got into bird watching. Sometimes I feel like I should be retired, because I remember my Grandma and Grandpa Pautz always watching the birds at the bird feeder by their camper.

When we first moved in, the previous owner of our house left her plastic tube feeder and the shepherd’s hook that held it. Once it warmed up a little, I bought some cheap seed from Menard’s and decided to give it a go. I was very fascinated by the birds that came, and impressed that such a cheap feeder could attract a variety of birds. Unfortunately the feeder met its match at the less-than-perfect frisbee throwing ability of my younger brother Joe. The frisbee hit it and it completely shattered. It was an explosion of seed and plastic.

By this point I committed to the birds, so the next time I went to Menard’s I picked up the Wild Wings Cedar Bird Feeder.

Design

Due to its hybrid design, this feeder attracts larger birds as well as smaller birds. I noticed with the old tube feeder, that cardinals and blue jays and other larger birds only ate what fell, because the feeder wasn’t large enough for them to safely land. The Nature’s Way feeder solves this by combining the feeding ports with a larger bird hopper style. It attracts such a variety of birds, you really don’t need other feeders.

The other problem I had with the tube feeder was difficulty in cleaning it out. The Nature’s Way feeder has removable acrylic windows and a removable grate on the bottom. This makes it really easy to clean. The grate is great because it keeps water from sitting in the seed after it rains, which prevents bacteria/mold.

Finally, this feeder looks nice. Much better than the cheap plastic tube feeder. It also comes in a bamboo version, a wavy style, or a wavy style bamboo version on Amazon. I can whole-heartedly recommend this feeder based on about 6 months of use. (I’ll give future updates on how it does over time.)

Happy bird watching!



