Over the last couple of months I have received several questions about platform or tray feeders that will keep seed dry in our winter weather. With wind, rain, snow and 98% humidity I don't know if anything will keep the seed dry. However, that doesn't mean that the situation is hopeless. I think the trick is to start with a quality feeder that offers some protection. Then, monitor your bird activity and put out only as much seed as the birds will consume over one or two days. That will minimize the seed that just sits around and spoils.
Several weeks ago I browsed my catalogs to see if I could find some platform feeders that might work well in a Puget Sound winter. I ran across the Birds Choice feeder shown above and thought I would give it a try. Being fairly large, I used a Hookery pole mount to ensure that it was secure and would not move around too much. As you can see, I also added an Audubon Torpedo Squirrel Baffle in order to protect against rodents. My goal was to get some of the ground feeding birds up to the feeder where we can view them easier. The plan worked perfectly! A California Quail found the feeder just 30 minutes after we put it up.
It seems like the bird activity has doubled since I put up this feeder. We often get quail, jays, chickadees, flickers and towees to the platform. And the juncos go absolutely crazy. They flock all around that corner of the garden now.
