Seedy Side of Life

Seed Cups

Anyone for a cuppa seeds?

Yay, for the World Wide Web of shared ideas!  I came across this idea, of creating a feeder for wild birds in the garden.  Down to the Opp Shop (second hand store) I nipped and came away with 3 pre-loved tea cups for the grand total of NZ$1.50.  Once at home, I threw some rather old coconut oil (that I usually use for oiling my wooden creations) in a pot and melted it, added wild bird seed and tossed that into the cups.  It took less than 10 mins!

Next, I rummaged in my sewing box and came up with some old lace and fabric tape to tie around the handles of the tea cups. waiting rather impatiently for the coconut oil to set hard! As soon as this was evident, I whisked outdoors to hang the seed cups in a tree right in front of our kitchen/dining windows so we could easily view the feeding birds.

This seed cup had the remaining melted coconut oil poured over the top to form a hard seal.

I waited and watched.  Nothing.  De nada!  Nil.  No birds came.  The next day I watched, still nothing!  Bugger!  They don't work, I fretted!  All that for nothing!  

Then later in that day, we saw some sparrows hanging upside down trying to get to the seed and I felt a whoosh of joy!  It took them a while to get the hang of feeding upside down!

2 feeding cups placed at eye level for easy bird watching from inside our house.

And then we were truly rewarded, when we spotted a little Silver-eye, or white-eye hanging upside down and feeding with relative ease, like it was used to eating upside down!  I ran for the camera and thanks to a zoom lens, was able to capture these images from about 3 1/2 metres away, through double-glazed windows!  Hooray for modern technology!

Yummy Bird Treats

Look at this gem - wings beating at a 100km per second, this little guy selected exactly the seeds he wanted!

I see my cat scheming, thinking of ways to reach the seed cups, but I think I can rest easy, these are cat-proof!  She often eats the bread or left-over cooked grains I put out for the birds on the grass!

Do I look like a bird?  Maybe I'll get fed!

Guess not....  I'll just have to wait till dinner-time!