My in-laws have a couple of suction cup bird feeders, and it thrills me to see the birds come right up to their window to feed. I was always leery about trying one myself because we have two tiny suction cup shelves in our shower that fall off constantly (and usually give me a heart attack in the process). I figured suction-cup feeders are more trouble than they are worth.
Recently I found a cute little suction cup feeder on sale at the hardware store, and I decided to give it a chance. I attached it to our bay window and went in the garage to get a small scoop of peanuts which seem to be the biggest hit among the birds that visit my yard. When I came back to the window, the feeder was already clinging by only one of the 3 suction cups. Ug. I went into the house and smeared a little hand lotion on my fingers. Then I went back out and dabbed just a tiny bit of it on the suction cups. I walked away for awhile to see if they would hold. This time they did, so I filled up the feeder with peanuts and sunflower hearts and waited for some action.
The feeder sat lonely for more than a week. Then one day I was sorting some papers and I heard a weird scratching sound. I looked around and there was my first visitor, a House Finch:
The next day a chickadee appeared and snatched a peanut, followed by a goldfinch. A few days later a cardinal landed on the slippery top and stared at me through the window as he flapped his wings to stay upright. He never did figure out how to land properly on the feeder.
It looks like House Finches will be my best customers:
