How to: Make a Plastic Bottle Bird Feeder

Putting up a bird feeder is a fun way to keep your beak-tipped buddies well fed all winter. Here’s how to make one by upcycling two plastic bottles.

Here’s what you need

• 2-liter plastic bottle
• 1-liter plastic bottle
• Short bolt and nut
• Drill with a bit the same diameter as the bolt
• Needle-nose pliers
• Utility knife or kitchen shears
• Cord
• Birdseed (black-oil sunflower seeds are best)
• Funnel
• A grown-up to help

Here’s what you do

1.   Ask a grown-up to cut the bottom off of a 2-liter plastic bottle using a utility knife or kitchen shears.

2.   Drill holes around the edges of the 2-liter bottom you just cut off. These will keep birdseed from getting soggy by allowing rainwater to drain.

3.   Drill a hole in the center of the 2-liter bottom and another hole in the center of the cap on the 1-liter bottle.

4.   Drill two holes on opposite sides near the bottom of the 1-liter bottle.

5.   Ask a grown-up to cut two 1-inch-square openings just below the neck on opposite sides of the 1-liter bottle.

6.   Push the bolt up through the center of the 2-liter bottom. Push the 1-liter lid over the bolt. Thread on the nut and tighten it with needle-nose pliers.

7.   Thread cord through the holes at the bottom of the 1-liter bottle.

8.   Use a funnel to fill the 1-liter bottle with birdseed. If you pour the seed slowly, the funnel won’t clog up as much.

9.   Twist the cap tightly onto the bottle and then quickly flip it over. Seed should dribble out and fill up the 2-liter bottom.

Hang Your Feeder

Tie your feeder to a tree branch or a shepherd’s hook in a location where you can watch it. Placing the feeder within 3 feet of a window is the best way to keep your feathered friends from crashing into the glass. Birds are more likely to notice the window, and even if they don’t, they aren’t likely to be flying fast when they take off and land at the feeder.