My New Bird Feeder

   I have been a bit fascinated with this new bird feeder I bought last weekend and hung in Bird Alley.  I wondered if the little birds would be able to find their way into the interior of the cage.

The first species to check it out were the little Pine Siskins.  I began to worry about my feeder choice as the siskins did not seem to be able to figure out what to do at first.
 The first two birds to approach it appeared confused as to how to get inside, then they flew away!  But when this species returned again they finally got it mastered.With luck they appeared to 'fall in; the open spaces in the outer cage.  Their preference of entrance seemed to be through the cage openings at the bottom.

  It was a delight to watch the little Chickadees approach the feeder and enter into the caged area immediately. If I were awarding first place medals to the winners, then the Chickadees would be the winners.  and a close second would be the American Goldfinches.  They showed no hestitation as they entered the feeder and began to feed.

   Some birds were just to big to fit inside, such as this female Hairy Woodpecker shown below. She is probably wondering how that little Pine Siskin got inside the caged feeder shown below. The Blue Jays were a bit annoyed too as they could not get to the food in the feeder:  but there were other feeders nearby with tasty seed offerings.

  

A bird not too big but it did not get inside the caged area was this White-breasted Nuthatch shown above. Perhaps it goes against the nature of the species to enter an area like this. I shall be observing daily. to see if this species is ever able to master an entrance.
 
One very surprising  species to figure out how to enter the cage and feed there was this little male Downy woodpecker shown below.  what a surprise it was to see him inside.

I like the features of this feeder.  The bigger birds are not able to get near the food and scatter and waste it as the larger woodpeckers and BlueJays sometimes do.  And the outer cage should offer protection and safety from hawks to the little feeding birds.  Other years we have had preying Sharp-shinned Hawks terrorizing Bird Alley as well as an often visiting Northern Shrike.

My most recent photo capture of a different bird species feeding within my caged bird feeder was this little Red-breasted Nuthatch.

Oh No!!!!  How did that red furry creature get inside my caged feeder?????
What a terrible sight to see when I looked out my window!
When I opened the window to scare him off he ran around the center in a circle as if he couldn't figure how to get out.  Then he squeezed tightly through one of the wire openings!

And don't come back!!!!!!

 The most recent species to get inside the feeder cage was these American tree Sparrows.