New Product: Fruit Feeder

Many bird species depend on fruit for their nutrition. It's an excellent source of sugar, providing energy for breeding, migration and maintaining body heat during chilly days. Robins, orioles, cardinals, mockingbirds, Cedar Waxwings, Gray Catbirds, Black-capped Chickadees, Eastern Bluebirds, Tufted Titmice and House Finches are among the birds that enjoy having fruit in their diet. In fact, some birds such as orioles, waxwings and catbirds prefer fruit over seed.

Try a fruit feeder from Songbird Essentials. It has a perch and a spike on each side.  You can insert halves of apples or oranges on each spike. Apples attract the widest range of songbirds, as any apple grower will tell you. In apple orchards, birds actually can be a problem, because they easily damage the crop before it is ready for harvest. 
  The fruit feeder is made of polylumber, which is made of post-consumer waste such as milk jugs. Polylumber is same tough recycled material used in the floors of decks and porches. Unlike wood, it doesn't fade, peel, rot, chip, crack or warp. Eleven milk jugs were used for this feeder, which can easily be cleaned using a bleach solution. The feeder features exterior-grade screws and hangers. 

The American  manufacturer stands by a lifetime guarantee for workmanship.

A small roof shields the fruit a bit from the sun. Place the fruit feeder where it will get shade during the heat of the day. That way, the fruit will remain fresher and tastier. Offer only as much fruit as birds will eat in two or three days. If the fruit starts fermenting or spoiling, it is less healthy for the birds. If you offer an apple, you do not need to core the fruit. The birds will enjoy the seeds.

You needn't raid your pantry for the best fruit. Use fruit that has passed its prime. Or check your local farmers market or grocery store. They may have apples or oranges that no longer appeal to consumers but remain attractive to hungry birds. Birds don't mind fruit that is bruised.

Finally, if birds do not seem to be interested in the fruit, try a different variety that they may be more appealing. Relocating the feeder sometimes works well, too.

Products sold at The Bird House may be available for a limited time, so hurry in!