I'm still working on a bear-proof feeding system and have decided to hang a bucket, or two, real high and use pulleys to raise and lower it. We'll see if that works. These previous systems didn't work.
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| Note T-post bent down from where it was concreted into the ground and chained to the barrel. |
This next one worked, except physically too hard for me to get a tall ladder, carry a bag of seed up it and dump it in the bucket without falling off the ladder. Also, for bird photographers, seed needs to be on the ground, not up in the sky. So the ideal is to have the bucket high, but dispense seed to the ground, like Davis Mountain State Park does.
My new plan is to hang a bucket or two from the feeder pole Mac made me last year and raise and lower it with pulleys. Today I made the pole taller and bought 4 pulleys. Now working on the rest of the plan. I was going to post the feeder stand "before," photo, but can't find one. And can't do the "after" yet because I had to concrete the pole extension's base deep into the ground and waiting for it to set a couple of days before adding the pole, and hopefully buckets of seed. Still a work in progress. I have to do something or the smaller feeders get empty when I'm in Alpine. To be continued....
Also next time I'm at the oasis I hope to locate a bunch of baby verbena (Glandularia wrightii) and transplant them to a patch for my butterflying pleasure. I saw 3 or 4 tiny ones today, but need to look farther. I had hoped a patch would come up by itself like it did last spring, but not to be. It actually started blooming in January last year. Every oasis year is different, so you never know what new treasures are in store.
2 comments:
Hi Carolyn, Have you thought about suspending a deer feeder bucket and setting a timer to dispense birdseed? With some deer feeders you can adjust the width of the dispenser to accommodate small seed. I have used one in the past when I was away from my land in a couple places and it served the birds well. Some of the small birds did learn to land near the dispenser and dispense a bit of their own...but it still lasted for several days to a number of weeks. One feeder holds over 200 lbs of seed which I would load with a bucket. That may not work for you.
Regards,
Carla
That's what I'm working on now. Gonna try it and see. Will post the outcome. The one I have takes 11 batteries and I hate things like that but worth a try. Also going to try one bucket with just holes and perches by the holes.
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