Bird Feeders – Hummingbird, Platform and Tube Feeders

If you are new to the bird feeding community you will benefit from this information.   There are lots of different types of bird feeders to choose from and three among the most popular include: hummingbird feeders, platform feeders, and tube bird feeders. Learn of the differences between all three bird feeders, the bird food to use for each, and the birds they can attract.

Hummingbird Feeders 

Hummingbird feeders are nectar feeders and come in several different shapes and sizes. These bird feeders are enclosed, typically made of glass or plastic, and often have 3 to 5 feeding ports. These ports are often surrounded with red plastic flowers and bee guards. The nectar solution can be made at home, using a ratio of 4 parts water to 1 part white cane sugar. Simply boil the water or just use hot water from the faucet, stir in the sugar while hot and making sure it is dissolved, then allow it to cool before filling the feeder. The hummingbird feeder should be washed at least once a week and any remaining nectar discarded. This will prevent your nectar solution from fermenting and keep your hummingbirds returning.

Platform Bird Feeders

Platform bird feeders, also called tray feeders and tabletop feeders, consist of an open tray upon which the seed is placed. These bird feeders offer little protection against squirrels or the weather but can come with a top to protect the seed from some elements. Some tube bird feeders are equipped to attach a tray feeder to them.  You can attach platform bird feeders to some hook stands and hang from poles away from trees and telephone lines (in a better attempt to keep squirrels out).  A good quality mix for platform bird feeders is shelled peanuts and lots of black oil sunflower seed. Kitchen scraps such as breads, donuts, crackers or dried fruit work well with platform feeders too.  Some birds that are attracted to platform bird feeders include cardinals, chichadees, jays, nuthatches, buntings, titmouse, redpolls, finches, pine siskin, woodpeckers, starlings, blackbirds and most seed eating birds.

Tube Bird Feeders

Tube bird feeders are constructed with a hollow cylinder which is often made out of some type of plastic.  These bird feeders come with multiple feeding ports and perches.  Keep in mind that tube bird feeders with short perches can be selective to smaller birds. For example, a tube feeder with small perches can accommodate chickadees, but exclude large birds such as jays.  Tube bird feeders generally keep the seed fairly dry.  It is best to have one type of wild bird seed and avoid mixed seed. The types of wild birds feeding at this type of bird feeder, will as usual, only eat their favorite seed. The seed which is left will clog the feeding ports leaving their favorite seed out of reach.  The types of birds attracted to tube feeders include chickadees, house finch, American goldfinch, nuthatch, titmice, pine siskin, purple finch, lesser goldfinch, downy woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, red bellied woodpecker, and the cardinal.

Invest in a hummingbird feeder, platform bird feeder or tube bird feeder today and start enjoying the wild life entertainment they will bring to your backyard.  These three bird feeders are just a few of the most popular types of bird feeders.  Make sure to keep any and all bird feeders clean and well maintained for returning birds.

New Garden Gnomes

We have three new adorable Garden Gnomes available!

 Garden Gnome Greeting Sign

Playful Pals Tabletop Fountain 

Support Our Troops Gnome

Garden gnomes are fun way to add some humor to your lawn and garden.  Enjoy the Welcome Greeting Garden Gnome, Playful Pals Tabletop Fountain, or Support Our Troops Gnome in your backyard today!

Easy Make-Your-Own Wind Spinner Project

I was just browsing Youtube for some fun crafty ideas for a toddler and came upon this wind spinner project.  This wind spinner project is so easy anybody can do it.  The video clipping is very straight-forward and not long at all.  Keep the kids busy for hours and you'll have a lawn or garden full of home-made, kid-crafted wind spinners! These may not weather as well outdoors as the Wind Spinners you'll find at OutdoorMama.com but at least the kids will be happy and busy and c'mon...what parent or grandparent wouldn't be proud to display the kids' beautiful wind spinners they made with their own hands, right?

Selected Bird Houses On Sale!

Bird houses can be a fun and functional addition to any backyard.  There are decorative bird houses that are also purposeful to wild life.  When shopping for a bird house make sure you find a good place for it first.  Try and separate any bird houses away from each other and other bird feeders.  If you invest in a couple bird houses for your backyard you should start to see wild birds move right in.  Enjoy the ever-growing hobby of bird watching as your wild life population grows right before your eyes with bird houses.

NEW Droll Yankees Chickadee/Wren Plain Nest Box

                                        $64.95

                                        $59.95

 "Welcome" Bird House

                                        $17.95

                                        $15.95

Decorative Bird Houses - Victorian

                                          $24.95 

                                          $22.95

Old Mill Restaurant Bird House

                                            $22.95

                                            $18.95

How to Shop for Lawn Ornaments

Bird Nest Solar Lamp

It can be very overwhelming when shopping for lawn ornaments.  What do you buy and where are you going to put it?  First, before you leave your house, know of or look for a spot in your lawn and garden that is bare and in dyer need of some ornamental decoration.  What kinds of things surround the area?  Trees, pond, a deck, patio, fireplace, rocks, grass, etc.  This will help you determine what kind of lawn ornaments you are going to want to look for.  Lawn ornaments come in many forms so there is always something for every bare spot.  The most popular forms of lawn ornaments are garden statues or gnomes.  These are popular because they can go pretty much anywhere you set them and fit right in.  Stepping stones are another form of lawn ornaments that make for a great decorative path from A to B in your lawn and garden.  Other forms of lawn ornaments that people may not consider are things that can be hung from something, like a tree branch, hook stands, brackets, etc.  These lawn ornaments I am speaking of can be wind chimes, wind spinners, bird houses and bird feeders.  What a more wonderful way to decorate your outdoor space while also engaging in wild life  with bird feeders and bird houses.  Certainly wildlife in your backyard is entertaining!

Wind Chimes - Beautiful Sounds That Bring Back Pleasant Memories

When I hear the sound of wind chimes I think of a pleasant, carefree, once upon a day, long ago.  My great grandmother, Olive, comes to mind and the small town she lived in with her daughter, my grandma, for so many years of my life.  The pleasant and peaceful sound of wind chimes were always in the background when at grandma's house.

   

The best thing about wind chimes is that they create a sound like no other.  A sound that has the capability of forcing you to relax even if  your mind is telling you 'you better get up and do those dishes' or 'get the clothes off the line before the rain moves in'.  An inner voice that I am far too often familiar with these days.  Wind chimes are very therapeutic for me because of this inner voice and all the joys and adventures being a  young mom can bring into life.  If you can't get away from everyday life to relax, embrace the therapeutic sounds of wind chimes right in your own home.  Wind chimes can be used both indoors and out.  I've seen some people have wind chimes right in there office at work.  Anywhere close to a window and the slightest breeze is all you need to enjoy the sounds of wind chimes right at work.  How convenient is that?  Wind chimes make great gifts this way as well.
Visit OutdoorMama for a beautiful selection of wind chimes to choose from and start enjoying the therapeutic benefits of wind chimes yourself.

Bats be Gone!

So recently we had a problem with bats in our house, and we still may.  My husband and I sat out one night and watched where they were coming out of from the house and stopped counting at 200 bats.  It was getting too dark out to see and as we were walking back into the house we could here more scurrying around in the siding of our home!  Yuck and gross!  We knew we had bats up there somewhere but didn't think anything of it until they were starting to find their way down into our living space.  Well it gradually was getting worse; we had 2-3 bats any given night.  Talk about too close for my comfort; they were definitely invading my comfort zone at this point.  Especially with a 2 year old and 4 month old baby.  The way we got rid of them when they did come down was opening a door that we conveniently have in our living room (our house is 110 years old and used to be a post office once upon a time) and they would eventually fly out.  During the few weeks that this has been going on we had been trying to keep an eye on their entry points into our living space.  We witnessed them coming through the bottoms of the upstairs and downstairs doors.  We also caught them coming through under the bathroom sink (once while we were all in there brushing our teeth and it flew out and under me) and kitchen sink. But enough was enough.  My husband put towels under the doors so they can't get through and spray foamed the holes under the sinks from where the piping was going through.  This has seemed to help.  He also went around the outside of the house and sealed all the holes he could find and the main exit point he installed a rolled up netting material that they apparently can't bite through.  This allows them to get out but they can't get back in.  What a bat nightmare.  I never realized how small these little creatures are until we would find them in the morning sometimes (if they got through in the middle of the night while we were sleeping...flapping over our heads while we sleep...creeeeepy) hanging from where ever, like this picture I got in the bathroom one morning.  It doesn't take a big hole for these little furry things to find there way in.  

So a little word of advice: if you know you have bats going in and out of your home, don't ignore it!  You don't want 100's of bats making your home theirs and then they start invading your living space.  And make sure to clean up the area that you may have had bats in your house as bat droppings can create a strong odor.  This odor may also attract bats if new openings develop in the structure. Use caution cleaning the area to avoid contracting histoplasmosis. Histoplasmosis is a respiratory infection caused by inhaling fungal spores which may grow in bat droppings. Read here for more information.  Hope nobody has as bad a bat problem as we do or hopefully now...did!

FUn QuOTe oF tHe WeEk

The most serious gardening I do would seem very strange to an onlooker, for it involves hours of walking round in circles, apparently doing nothing. --Helen Dillon

Recycle Your Old Shoes Into Homemade Stepping Stones

Between my running shoes and my husband's work boots and now with a toddler boy, we go through a lot of shoes in a year.  I have always tried to think of creative ways to reuse our old shoes.  We have tried bringing them in to hand me down stores but a lot of times they wouldn't take them because they were so beaten up and not wearable anymore.  So I hated throwing them away knowing this is not good for the environment.

Now I have thought of a creative idea for those old shoes. Making your own stepping stones from shoes just seems like the perfect solution.  I'm going to demonstrate how I have done this and discuss different ways you can use them.  

Take a trip around your house, in the closets and in the garage.  Collect all of your old pairs of sneakers, slippers, boots, sandals, crocks, you name it, that you don't wear anymore.  Ask your friends, family and neighbors if they have any laying around; it's just taking up space anyway!  If you still can't find some, you can always look for garage sales and get pretty good deals.  When you have your stack of stepping stones, you'll want to cut the top of the shoe off so it's just the sole.  

Next you'll want to wash the bottom of the shoes off real good with soap and water being sure to rinse well with water and let dry overnight.  This will allow paint to stick to the surface a lot better and last longer.  Once the shoe(s) is dry use any paint you want but I used spray paint I picked up at my local hardware store.  Spray paint all the shoes you have, using different colors if you want. 

Allow paint to dry thoroughly; read user instructions on the can for dry times.  Now you need to decide where it is you want to place your new recycled shoe stepping stones.  I placed my stepping stones on top of the wood chips in our landscaping.  I also staked them down using anchoring pins (I also found at my local hardware store).  Tip: if you plan on using two anchoring pins per shoe, poke the holes all the way through the sole for both before staking to the ground.

And that's it!  Now you have the recipe for a creative stepping stone path that you can make right from you own home and a few supplies from your local hardware store. Now, if you'll please excuse me, I have lots more shoes to recycle before these stepping stones are finished!

If you do not have time for this fun project but still are interested in stepping stones, you can always buy them instead.  There are plenty of different kinds of stepping stones out there, but these are one of my new favorites!

Bird House Basics – Do’s & Don’ts

Like weather vanes and sundials, bird houses can be as artistic as they are functional.  Bird houses come in many styles, from gaily painted wooden antiques to sleek metal models to plain old wooden ones.  However delightful they may look to you, you’ll want to make sure the birds find them attractive as well.  Learn about what birds use bird houses and how to acquire the most success in housing wild birds.

                

   

Cavity-Nesting Birds   

                                               

Only cavity-nesting birds (those that nest in tree hollows) use bird houses.  This group includes bluebirds, chickadees, nuthatches, swallows, and wrens.  The type of bird house you install determines the kinds of birds you’ll attract.  However, this is a most inexact science as a bird house may be intended for a wren or a bluebird, but it will be fair game for any birds of similar size that find it to their fancy.  This can be a fun feature to providing bird houses in your backyard.

Small Birds

Small birds, such as chickadees, nuthatches, and most wrens, prefer a hole that’s 1 1/8 inches across.  Medium-size birds, such as bluebirds, swallows, and purple martins, need a nest box with a hole 1 ½ inches wide.  White-breasted nuthatches need a 1 ¼ inch opening. 

Larger Birds

Larger birds, such as flickers and kestrels, take boxes with 2 ½ inch entry holes.  Flickers usually like to dig out their own nests, but sometimes you can attract them with a large nest box.  If you happen to fill it with wood chips, they’ll dig it right out.   

Do’s & Don’ts

To keep bird houses safe from raccoons and cats, mount the bird houses atop metal poles.  If you want to put a bird house in a tree, hang it from a branch.   If you supply bird feeders in your yard keep the bird houses away from the feeders.  Mealtime can make nesting birds nervous and scare them off.  Wherever you plan on putting your bird house make sure the entrance is facing away from any prevailing weather.  You can also remove the perch if your bird house comes with one; they are unnecessary and house sparrows may sit on them to heckle birds inside the bird house.  When choosing a bird house make sure it’s made of good insulated material.  Bird houses made out of at least 1-inch-thick wood usually is good insulation.  If you make your own bird house, steer away from using plastic milk cartons as they are too thin and have poor ventilation.  The heat created with this kind of material can bake chicks inside or make them fledge too early from your bird house.  You’ll want to make sure you can easily clean bird houses so look for an opening at the top or side of the house.  Also drain holes in the bottom of your bird houses and ventilation holes high in the sides of the house for summer heat are good things to watch for.  Bird houses should be up before migrant season begins around late February because they will be looking for nesting sites soon after they arrive.  And lastly, if you decide to put up more than one bird house keep them well separated and out of site from one another.  Just like humans, birds most like their space!

These bird house basics should get you off on the right foot.  After deciding which types of birds you want to attract and choosing the right bird house for them, you should start to see a more active wild life in your backyard.  Providing bird houses in your lawn or garden is a delightful hobby.  Enjoy picking out your bird house or bird houses because there a lot to choose from.