If you are looking for an inexpensive Christmas gift for an adult or youngster that harbors an interest in birds but does not feed birds, consider giving them an inexpensive clear plastic tube feeder.  This type of feeder keeps seeds from getting wet and spoiling. In addition, allows a homeowner to monitor how much seed remains in the tube and is easy to clean.

       It is also important to provide them with a bag of high-quality birdseed.  Emphasize to them that the best seed mixes are composed of a mixture containing high percentages of black oil sunflower seeds and millet.  They should shy away for mixtures containing large percentages of milo, corn. or wheat seeds.  While these mixes are often the least expensive, birds often eat very little of these types of food.  Invariably, these components end up on the ground beneath the feeder where they spoil and can cause a health risk to birds.

Photos are for illustration purposes only.

       A tube feeder stocked with a high-quality seed attracts a wide range of birds that eat millet and/or sunflower seeds.  Here is a list of a dozen birds that just might pay a visit to their feeder (or will feed the ground below the feeder) this winter:  chipping sparrow, house finch, Carolina chickadee, cardinal, blue jay, eastern towhee, white-throated sparrow, song sparrow, dark-eyed junco, purple finch, and American goldfinch.

       When they open their gift, you should advise them that bird feeding could be addicting.   As such, feeding birds just might be something they will enjoy the rest of their life.