Thrifty Thursday-Shard Feeders

We enjoy the daily visits of various birds in our garden.
A variety of plants allow our feathered friends to not only grace us with song,
but find cover from predators when needed or a place to build a home for future nest-building.
While we do provide some natural resources for water and food using native plants,
we also supplement with other forms of birdseed or fruit, like oranges.

 

The bird feeder we were using kept falling apart,
so it was time to think of something new.
The other problem we had was that a feral cat
started hanging out near the feeder.
It had already been chased out of our yard once,
dangling a bluejay in its mouth
(the bird was able to fly away).
Instead of buying a new feeder, 
I wanted to figure out some way of using what we already had laying around.



These terra cotta shards are usually used for drainage in the bottom of a container,
where the holes might be too big to keep the soil in the pot.
The idea came to me to use them as bird feeders.

The birdseed fits in it pretty well,
and the porous nature of the clay will help any water leech out.
They aren't sharp enough to harm the visitors.

One was tucked into an air plant that is hanging in one of our trees.
It fits snug as a bug.

Another was nestled into some tree branches.
I wasn't sure they would eat out of this one,
because it was so open with no surrounding shrubbery.
It is still pretty high off the ground,
away from feline claws.
They weren't a bit deterred,
and we've been able to watch cardinals, doves and mockingbirds feasting.

 

 Breakfast is served!

Check out these ideas at the Good Housekeeping website!