I can fully understand the desire to create a pleasing appearance on your house. On the other hand, I live alone in a rented room on the back side of a rural house totally out of public view and I have not had a visitor since last September so I am not in the least concerned about what others might think of my arrangement. My principal interest is two fold. Since I retired last June my primary hobby is nature photography and 2. Since the weather is too bad to take long nature walks or sit for hours in the woods, camera in hand, it was my desire to find ways to attract birds and critters of all sorts to a point where I could view them from my window. I began with a simple wooden hopper feeder and a couple suet cages attached to a tree about 50 feet from the window, then I decided I wanted something a bit closer so I took an old pipe garment rack and stood it about 12 ft from the window and hung two tube feeders on it. After noticing that birds liked to perch on the metal rail while waiting their turn at the feeders I got the silly idea to punch a couple holes in an old plastic pail lid and tie it on top of the rack to be used as a tray feeder. I then filled all the bird feeders, poured some seed in the pail lid and sprinkled some excess seed on the ground along with a loaf of stale bread scattered on the ground. Since I began scattering the stale bread the squirrels comes down immediately and grabs a slice of bread, runs up the tree and sits on a limb to eat the bread totally ignoring the bird feeders. The starlings, Doves, Juncos and Hosps seem to prefer eating the bread on the ground so I have very little competition at the feeders, and too top it off, this morning they were joined by two huge crows. Oh yes, did I mention that I also have a small flock of wild turkeys and a couple rabbits that show up occasionally? The more desirable birds, Cardinals, Blue Jays,Chickadees, Finches, Tutti's and Nuthathes seem quite content to feed from either the wooden hopper, plastic tube feeders or the vinyl pail lid and while the Woodpeckers are generally on the suet feeders they are equally happy to grab seed from any of the afore mentioned locations. From my experience it would seem that the key is the volume and availability of the food rather than the type of feeder.

A bluebird nesting box on a pole would probably attract them. I tack a tuna can with drainage holes punched in it on the roof of the box & place about 25 dried mealworms in it.

Well, with the help of the snow, my pricey suet holder has been accepted by the birds. I just took the plunge and ordered a second one - of, course without consulting my wife. Next purchase may be to purchase a second seed feeder for the front of the house. I am looking forward to hopefully the return of my Barred Owl family... they've raised young for most of the last five years. I still have not found/seen their nest in the woods behind my home. There is a creek and a park to provide some ambiance for them. lol Last year my wife and I were out of town (INDY or CT visiting granddaughters) when a young barred owl was found in the road on my street. With the help of a rehabilitator and other neighbors they located the nest and got a tree climber to successfully return the young guy to its nest. I read about it in the paper and really don't know who the neighbors were nor where the nest is/was. I'm just a beginner in the birdwatching arena, but have developed a dislike for three crows/ravens named CURLY, LARRY, and MOE and also two (fat) squirrels named BAD and UGLY. I would not cause them any harm, but I don't want to feed them. ;-) Here is a link that might be useful: Again

Yes, I feed the birds...including those that eat on the ground, like pigeons and doves, and possums, squirrels, raccoons, and a wild pig. :)) I buy black oil sunflower seeds, but most of my other food is donated, and I feed the donated food to my dogs and cats, so it isn't much for me to buy the sunflower seeds, when I consider what it would cost to feed 2 dogs and 20+ cats. I had 25 of the Hurricane Ike orphan squirrels here but the rehabbers donated 10 lb. of pecan halves and 10 lb. of walnut halves...premium, food grade stuff...for them. I also have horses, and their feed has gone down a dollar over the past 6 weeks. Still not back to the original price, but I was surprised that anything came down. If you think feeding birds is expensive, I have 4 horses and it costs me $420 a month to feed them during the winter. It is $180 for their feed, and $240 a month for hay, but fortunately, I only have to buy hay a couple more months...have enough pasture for warm weather. But, even tho I could get by feeding them cheaper, they are old and I feel like they need a good quality grain and hay...so that's what they get. If I didn't receive the donated food, which I get thousands of pounds of per month....there is no way I could feed all the animals here, but we have some good sponsors who donate to us every week, including 4 animal shelters, Houston Food Bank, and the wildlife center. A Walmart gives us all of their ripped bags. I got a lot of thistle seed a few months ago from the Food Bank, and have been waiting for the gold finches, which are just now showing up here.