Rethink & Reuse: Bottles + Bowls = Beautiful Bird Feeders
Give your feathered friends the VIP touch when you turn thrifted bottles and bowls into charming, whimsical bird feeders. Not only are you showing love to the birds in your yard, but you are also showing it to Mother Nature by keeping items out of landfills.
As you clean up your gardens for the Spring season and beyond, take time to do this easy, economical, and environmentally-friendly DIY project, which will have the birds—and your neighbors—chirping with delight!
Here’s how:
Step 1: Fly over to Goodwill to find your good there & items to upcycle
Birds of a feather flock together which is why you always see friendly, happy people finding their good at Goodwill! Stop by your favorite nonprofit Goodwill store to collect items for this project. In the Housewares section, you will likely find colorful glass bowls and bottles to pair together. Two bottles, one in blue and one in teal were picked up for a buck each. A matching blue flower-shaped bowl and a glass one with flowing matching tones were ideal ones to keep with the color scheme.
A serving container with small sections, likely for chips and dip, was repurposed as a place to hold birdseed and water. It even had bird images on it, so home it went with me and my treasures.
While there, see if there are other items to embellish your bird feeder. A pink bird statue matched the hues in the serving container, so it was purchased, too. Other small statues and figurines would look so inviting to add. What other items have you seen at Goodwill that you might repurpose this way?
Step 2: Begin with the base: your bottle
Turn your bowl upside down and add quick-drying epoxy glue to the bottle’s bottom. Place the bottle on top of the upside-down bowl and secure it in place with painter’s tape.
Allow ample time for it to dry completely for a good, solid connection. Remove the painter’s tape.
Step 3: Add an embellishment
With the bottle attached to its bottom, carefully turn your bowl right side up now. With more epoxy glue, adhere your bird statue or other figure along the top. The pink bird was placed in the center of the serving tray to welcome other friendly fowl. A light blue bird now perches along the blue bowl’s wide rim. Both of these little birds added another pop of color and visual appeal.
Step 4: Hammer a holding rod into the ground
Look around your place to see what long, round and sturdy item you might be able to reuse as the stake on which to hold your bowl & bottle bird feeder. An aluminum curtain rod was cut into pieces with a wire cutter. The cut end was place in the soil; the upright end was hammered to push the rod securely into the ground.
Other holding rod ideas are wooden broom handles, wood scraps, flagpole parts and metal stakes. Be sure to check to see that they are able to fit easily into your bottle base’s opening.
Step 5: Feed the birds
Now the fun part! Add bird seed to your bird feeder and/or pour water if there are extra sections for it. That’s it! Be ready to greet your favorite flying friends who will flock to use these charming, one-of-a-kind bird feeders that will make them feel like eagles!
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Tim Kime
Artist, Motivational Speaker, Life Coach
