Homemade Bird Feeders

My husband is loving pinterest. The other day, he saw this simple idea for making bird feeders out of toilet paper rolls, and he and the girls made them last night (thanks to The Moffatt Girls for the fun idea).

First, they spread peanut butter on the empty toilet paper rolls...

...and rolled them in bird seed: 

(Our seed of choice is safflower, which we use to attract cardinals, titmice, black-capped chickadees, nuthatches, and even the occasional woodpecker. Also, squirrels aren't very fond of safflower, so they leave our feeders alone unless they're starving).

We put the finished rolls in the refrigerator over night...

...and this morning, my husband laced them down the braches of an overwintering Rose of Sharon that abuts our deck:

The verdict? 

Yum!

Long ago, I put together a birdwatching activity that the girls can use to track the birds that come to our feeders. I'll have to put it out again, since the girls got to make these feeders themselves. I've already seen black-capped chickadees (shown in the photos above) and titmice (and a squirrel (and our dog :), too -- the peanut butter is a little too tantalizing for them to resist. :)

Happy birdwatching!