Bottle and mason jar bird seed feeder

     A while back someone asked me if I had any interesting bird seed feeders.  Hmmmm.  I didn't until now!  I realized that the "interesting design" depended a great deal on where you might want to hang a feeder (i.e. If you like to watch them just outside your window and there are only a few branches to hang it from, then we had better not use a design that needs to be screwed into the side of the house or into a tree or barn or fence, etc.). I also know a little about the wind speeds in my yard and the climate here in general and so I wanted to use tough materials that would hold up in high winds and if the feeder was knocked down I didn't want it to break easily or wear out in the sun and weather, etc. I decided on a sparkling soda or wine bottle design (the bottle just needs a screw-on cap) coupled with a small mason jar.  I've already put my plug in for mason jars-still love them-and this funny little smaller-sized jar was perfect!  The jar was given to me as a gift, filled with peppermint oil bath salts-it was heaven to use, soaking in the tub after long days! (Thank you Shoni!). Once I had emptied the jar, I kept it around.  I would see it from time to time and wonder what fun project I would use it for.  Today I wondered no longer-it would be the base in my birdseed feeder.

     First I needed a screw-cap bottle and lid.  I punched an x-shaped hole in the lid with a chisel and small hammer and then opened it up wide.

Then I unscrewed the ring and lid from the mason jar and tipped the empty bottle upside down on the top center of the mason jar lid.  Using a sharpie, I drew around the top of the bottle.

I then drew the other places on the lid that I would be cutting out.  The birds would need to feed from the top of the jar through the lid where the seed reservoir would be-the inside of the small jar itself.  The problem was that I needed the lid to be tough enough to support the weight of the mason jar (and the birdseed and birds) with all the  possible surface area cut away to allow the birds easy access.  I decided to leave four small little strips of mason jar which would extend from the center hole to the edge of the lid.  After drawing my plan on the top of the jar with sharpie and leaving a little bit extra to fold down so that no sharp edges would be left, I got to work with the chisel agin.

 Once I had cut and folded back the sharp edges, I screwed the ring and lid onto the bottle end.  Then I screwed the mason jar on the ring and lid.

Now for the wire hanger!  I have a bunch of stiff wire (the same that I use for the hummingbird feeders) and so I bent it carefully around the bottle and hooked the end.  Finished!

Except that I needed to take the jar back off to fill it with birdseed.  I loaded the bottle and screwed the jar back on and I was in business!  I hope you like it and have fun making your own variations!