Greensboro Birds

I put this together with scrap wood in about 10 minutes

I’ve never been happy with any birdfeeder I’ve ever bought. Too small, too futzy, too ugly, too cheapy, too swingy. Worst of all, though, is that inevitably, the bird I’m trying to watch is standing on the side I can’t see! No matter how I adjust the feeder, there’s always a blind spot, which is always where the coolest birds like to be. And nothing on the market is without one or more of these flaws; plus, bird paraphernalia is so ridiculously priced!

Platform feeders are my favorite: They offer an unobstructed view of the birds, are easy to clean, and attract birds that won’t typically visit other types of feeders. While I was building the chicken coop, I had an inspiration for a simple, large platform feeder. There was enough scrap wood left when I finished to coop, so last night I finally put my inspiration to work and built the Ultimate Platform Feeder: basically, a four-foot-long 1×6 board, edged on the long sides with 1×2s, and on the short sides by approximately 18-inch 1×2s. These 18-inch pieces also create four perches, two on either end. Everything is screwed together using 1.25-inch screws. CONSTRUCTION TIP: I use screws when building stuff like this, because if I decide to take it apart and repurpose the wood, screws are much easier and less damaging to remove than nails.

I repurposed a mount from an old feeder

On the bottom of the feeder, I attached a pole mount from the old feeder. It’s a simple matter of unscrewing it from the old feeder, lining it up in the center, and screwing it in. This went into an upturned log in which I drilled a corresponding hole with my favorite evil-looking drill bit. So fun to drill giant holes in logs!

It's easy to get distracted in the garden

Wait, what’s that? Ooh, nice tiger swallowtail on the pink delight butterfly bush! Oh, sorry, where was I?

UPF mounted on the log

The perches make handy spots for hanging stuff like this suet-ball cage (I also use it for BOSS and hulled peanuts). I put one screw through the top of the feeder and into the log to make it stable and secure. Then I sat back on the patio and watched for the first Ultimate Platform Feeder visitor.

Waiting for the first UPF visitor

I sawed off a suet cage from an old feeder and screwed it to the end of the UPF—the end I can see from the patio. Don’t you just hate when woodpeckers go to the suet on the unviewable side? That won’t happen with the UPF!

First visitor!

While a curious chickadee almost became the first visitor, it was too chicken to commit, leaving the honor to this male Northern cardinal.

And then there were three!

Pretty soon more and more cardinals landed on the Ultimate Platform Feeder. Some sat on the extended perches, others found their own space along the four-foot expanse. Once they realized there’s room for everyone, the invasion began in earnest.

Even towhees can't resist the Ultimate Platform Feeder

A male Eastern towhee was the next species to drop in, spending several minutes with a female cardinal. Usually the towhees graze on the ground below my feeders. Seeing one in the feeder feels like a little victory. Today the crowd at the Ultimate Platform Feeder has been intense. Mixed groups of up to a dozen at the time (and not bickering for space!), with more on the fence, in the nearby bath, and of course in the trees. Finally, the perfect feeder!