The Bird Feeder, Part 1

One of the neatest things we did during our first year in Costa Rica was to put up a bird feeder. It is a chore to stock it each day, bit it provides us with endless hours of entertainment. In South Carolina we had three types of feeders: seed, suet, and nectar. On our trips to Costa Rica, however, we never saw a seed feeder, but saw lots of fruit feeders. We tried putting up a fruit feeder back home, but succeeded only in attracting butterflies and wasps. As for seed feeders at our new location in Costa Rica, we knew it would probably attract rufous-collared sparrows, and maybe some pigeons and doves; we have put this project on hold.

Family of mot mots having dinner

Soon after our arrival we explained to our handyman, Don Oscar, that we wanted a platform-type fruit feeder that would allow the small bits of fruit to fall through the bottom, and would not collect rainwater. After a little thought, he designed a feeder with a square, wooden frame, with one wooden slate across the middle for support. The top is covered with one-inch size metal screen. It measures about 15 inches on a side, and is mounted on a 2-inch square iron pipe, which sits on a cement base. The platform sits about five feet off the ground. Later we added some metal pegs on which to stick the fruit, so that the birds would not accidentally knock it off the platform.

In South Carolina we had had problems with squirrels, and built or purchased various devices to keep them away. We have squirrels here too, but so far they have been almost no problem. We did see an opossum on the feeder one evening, something we never saw back home.

We stock the feeder regularly with plantains (the birds don't like them too ripe) and sometimes with papayas. We have tried bananas, oranges, lemons, mangoes, and pineapples, but the birds seem to prefer a diet of plantains and papayas. Our neighbor puts up watermelon, and says the birds love it.

We have been surprised by the different types of birds that come to the feeder. Would you believe, woodpeckers eat fruit? The birds that come on a regular basis include; clay-colored robins, grayish saltators, black-headed saltators, great kiskadees, blue-gray tanagers, Hoffmann's woodpeckers, and blue-crowned mot mots. Occasionally we have flame-colored tanagers, Baltimore orioles, and melodious blackbirds.

Opossum raiding the feeder

If we let them, the birds could eat us out of house and home. After much debate, we decided to limit our hospitality to two plantains and a quarter papaya per day. The robins are the most regular, and voracious, eaters, followed by the mot mots. Frequently after sunset, if we peer out our window, in the dim light we can make out a mot mot getting his last bedtime snack.

Happy gardening!