contentedbirder
Well-known member
Has anyone come across, or built, a birdfeeder intended for larger birds that effectively stymies smaller birds from getting any food? I would love for a way to feed blue jays and woodpeckers without seeing their treats (usually shelled peanuts) stolen by house sparrows.
I envision a feeder modified so that the perching place and the opening to the food are further apart than usual, so a smaller bird cannot perch and get any food, but a red-bellied woodpecker can. Or, some kind of cage around the feeder through which only longer beaks can reach the food. A more complicated design I thought of would entail a weight-activated system, so that only birds within a certain weight range would have access to the goodies, sort of the reverse of the standard keep-out-the-squirrels design.
Since we don't get a lot of grackles, blackbirds or starlings (they seem to always be migratory in my neck of the woods in suburban northern New Jersey), I wouldn't mind those larger birds also having a snack from such a feeder.
I envision a feeder modified so that the perching place and the opening to the food are further apart than usual, so a smaller bird cannot perch and get any food, but a red-bellied woodpecker can. Or, some kind of cage around the feeder through which only longer beaks can reach the food. A more complicated design I thought of would entail a weight-activated system, so that only birds within a certain weight range would have access to the goodies, sort of the reverse of the standard keep-out-the-squirrels design.
Since we don't get a lot of grackles, blackbirds or starlings (they seem to always be migratory in my neck of the woods in suburban northern New Jersey), I wouldn't mind those larger birds also having a snack from such a feeder.
