The bitbo project blogs: habitat and feeding stations




We have more than one feeding station for the various birds, squirrels, hummingbirds, butterflies and bees. We also have frogs, lizards, possums, armadillos, raccoons the occasional black snake, and coral snake and some cats who have been instrumental in keeping the mice away. We have two adopted male cats Sammy and Midnight who you may see in some of the clips.

Our backyard habitat and feeding stations:

1. Hummingbird habitat and bird feeding station
This area was developed first. It has changed over the years from a single feeder pole  to what it is now.  It consists of a single pole with four hangers. It usually has at least one or more hummingbird feeders, a swing, a water dish, and a caged feeder for the small birds along with firebush, butterfly plants, and amaryllis plants. We have a small camera to view the bird activity. We are able to capture some clips of the activity in this area but live feed is not yet available. After being over run with yellow jackets I brought the hummingbird feeders in and clipped the bush as the weather turned cold.





2. Squirrel feeding station.
It became apparent early on that the squirrels would need to have their own feeding station. Originally it was closer to the the hummingbird habitat feeding station but after having to replace the feeders often, we moved it to the far end of the yard. To keep the squirrels from destroying the feeders and going through the bird seed faster than we could afford to keep it filled, I have a designated area that is up on the fence. In the squirrel feeding station there is a squirrel lunchbox, 2 coconut feeders, a hanging platform feeder and a small cup for nuts and corn chips. They still eat at the middle feeding station if the birds or another squirrel is hogging the station. Just below the squirrel station there are butterfly bushes, milkweed, a firecracker bush and a few other natural plants to attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.







 sometimes the birds eat from the squirrel lunch box




3. The PVC pole

This is a 4x4 by 12 foot pvc pole that has two wooden poles running in the inside and cemented into and around a bucket that is buried underground for stability.  The squirrels can't reach around the pole to climb it and it is in the middle of the yard approximately 6 feet from the fence and 6 feet from the roof. Just barely out of jumping range.  It was important not to have anything close enough or high enough to allow them to launch themselves onto the hanging feeders. Currently 4 bird feeders in various sizes and a double sided suet feeder are hanging on the PVC feeder pole. This was our final arsenal in keeping the squirrels at bay.
UPDATE
During the fall I had to change to tube feeders due to swarming cowbirds

You are probably wondering why a squirrel proof bird feeder is on the PVC pole. Find out in a later blog and see the videos on Twitter @thebitboproject and Facebook at @birdsinthebackyardorlando 


4.The Tube and Platform feeding station AKA Middle Feeding Station  
A partially hidden feeding station on the fence that sports the longer tube feeders and a platform feeder. It is optimal for the smaller (song)birds and cardinals although the occasional squirrel will still eat from there and recently some of the blackbirds have been bullying the smaller birds away from this area. It is in between the bushes and partially obscured by the firecracker plant at which the hummingbirds also feeds from.









5. The Lonely Yellow feeder  Currently it is just a solitary nyjer hanger feeder that I am still working on trying to get plants or foliage for. There does not seem to be a lot of activity here yet. Which kind of sucks because I bought a whole bag of the nyjer seed.



The plants in our gardens and habitats:

In the front yard we have pentas, ixora,
In the backyard we have fire bush, firecracker plants, amaryllis, butterfly plants, milkweed, for the the caterpillars that will hopefully become beautiful monarch butterflies, cockscomb or dragonbreath, powder puff plants, ixora, sunflowers that come from the spilled birdseed, and a few others I can't remember the names of right now.











View live feed of the pvc feeder and video clips of the hummingbird habitat on YouTube

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