A spherical bird feeding station for dispensing food to birds comprises upper and lower mating hemispheres having a hollow interior chamber for storage of food, the lower hemisphere having a plurality of perforations thereabout through which birds may extract the food stored within while clinging to an encircling perch ring fixed to the lower hemisphere. An elongated rod extends along the polar axis of the sphere, supporting and carrying the lower hemisphere and extending upwardly through the pole of the upper hemisphere, which is slideably mounted on the rod for vertical sliding movement therealong from a closed position, wherein the upper hemisphere engages the lower hemisphere to form the spherical station, and a loading position, wherein the upper hemisphere is spaced along the rod from the lower hemisphere. The rod has an eyelet at its upper end for attachment to a support and to provide a stop to keep the upper hemisphere on the rod. The elongated rod passes loosely through the poles of the upper and lower hemispheres to permit tilting of both hemispheres relative to the rod to thereby permit the upper hemisphere to be swung laterally to increase the size of the opening between the hemispheres to facilitate insertion of food within the chamber.
The present invention relates to avian enclosures which are rotated. The invention is presented as a separate electrical device that rotates birdhouses and/or birdfeeders or it can also be made part of the whole enclosure. The electromechnical device that rotates the avian enclosures basically consists of a power source, a motor, and a gearbox. Power is supplied from batteries, and/or solar cells, or an alternating current source. A more complex version of the present invention is also presented that incorporates an electronic circuit to sense the presence of birds and activate the motor only for a predetermined period of time. Consequently, the main purpose of this circuit is to conserve power which is very important for non-rechargeable batteries.
A method of deterring certain kinds of animals from birdfeeders and birdhouses consists of rotating such avian enclosures at a sufficient speed to deter the undesirable animal. An electronic baffle rotates the avian enclosures at variable speeds for which fast speeds are used to deter animals and slow speeds are used for better viewing of birds. A support suspends the baffle from a tree or mounts the baffle to a pole in the ground. An electronic circuit contained within the baffle senses the animal's presence and controls the speed of a motor that rotates the avian enclosures for a predetermined period of time. Optionally, remote control circuitry may be used in manually deterring animals from the avian enclosures and for better viewing of birds.
Embodiments of a new woodpecker feeder are disclosed, each effectively preventing undesirable pest birds and squirrels from feeding yet allowing woodpeckers to feed by providing slotted access to the feed that is 6-12 mm. wide and more than 50 mm. in length and further by including a hard textured coating to dissuade squirrels from feeding. The method of feeding woodpeckers by restricting access to the food source based on the bill size and tongue length of the woodpecker as opposed to the pest birds is also disclosed.
A birdfeeder includes a upwardly-opening tray (12) that has an center post or rod (14) affixed thereto and a cover or hood (16) supported on the post and biased by biasing member (32) towards an upward collar (20) with the biasing member accommodating tilting of the cover upon the application of an external force to eject the species that produces the external force.
A simple puzzle toy designed for the amusement of primates and enrichment of their environment. The device of the preferred embodiment is a sphere having a plurality of holes. Pellets of food or other substances attractive to the primate are placed inside the device. The dimensions the holes are such that the pellets will pass through the holes in certain orientations and will not pass through the holes in other orientations, or such that it will have corners or edges of food and treats too large to be retrieved whole to be chewed until the food is small enough to be aligned with the opening and be removed in its entirety. Arrangement of the pellets, or reduction in size of the pellets by chewing, provides the device's amusement and environmental enrichment value.
