Bird Watching

Last month we were airing out the house.  We had all the windows open, and a lot of them do not have screens.  My oldest came running up to me and said "Mommy, come look!!!!!  There is a bird in the playroom."... and that's where it began......

From that day forward, we became bird watchers.  I placed a stool at the window so the girls could see out.  Luckily, the birds have made two nests that are visible from the window.  So fun!  

My oldest is a TOTAL animal lover.  She was very concerned on how the birds were going to get food, things to make their nest, etc.  She suggested we put out some bread for them and asked what they eat.  I told her "To be honest, I have no idea.  I don't really know a lot about birds.  Let's do some research."  We purchased a few books about birds and went to the pet store to talk with one of the workers.  

Placing some bread on the window ledge.  

Here is my oldest at the Pet store.  We talked about wild birds VS pet birds.  

Purchasing her bird seed! 

This invitation was all set up by my oldest.  

We talked about what kind of feeder she wanted to have, what we could use to make one, what she wanted to put in them, and how we were going to hang them.  

She wanted something clear so she could see the birds.  We had a fun "date" together shopping to search for some possible feeders.  

A couple things she wanted to try were a document holder and some small baskets.  We also picked up suction cups and clear command strips.  

I know you can buy window feeders at various places... you can see some on Amazon here... 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=window+feeder

However, this was much more about the process than just buying a bird feeder.  

Filling up her basket with sunflower seeds.  

"Look, that is the bird I saw at the window this morning!!!!  We should get this kind."

That was really the bird we saw that morning!  :-)  Very cool.  

The hanging methods were all suggested by my oldest.  The baskets she picked out fit our suction cups perfect!  You gotta love when that happens.  

Suction cup pressed through hole.  

Our basket hanging in the window.  This does have a bit of a tilt to it, but it worked none the less.  

This was a document holder she found at Office Depot for $7.00.  It worked great!!  

We hung it in the window with a clear command strip.  

Watching for birds.  

She also wanted to provide the birds with something to make their nest.  We brainstormed together on things we could use.  We came up with grass, pine straw, dryer lint, string, and hair.

YES- you may cut a little bit of your hair to give to the birds.  (LOL LOL)  

We have two windows in the playroom and she insisted that we put something up in the other window... "because the birds in the front of the house need food, too".  

We didn't have any other containers so I told her to search around the house for something else we could use.  She grabbed our peg board buckets.  We LOVE the way these turned out.  

You can purchase the buckets here...  

Again, we just hung them with clear command strips.  

Our "nest bag" hanging in the window with a suction cup.  She ended up taking this down.  She said it blocked her view.  

I know we had a few concerns about birds flying into the windows.  

We have quite a few bird nests outside our windows.  The window will reflect the trees and sky whether the window feeder is there or not.  Window feeders are actually recommend to help prevent birds flying into the window because they slow down and stop to get the food VS flying "straight through."  If we were to see a lot of dead birds we would take them down.  However, it has not been an issue at all.  

Some of the birds we've been seeing.  

RL