APES Teh Bird F33der V1.0

by Aerodactyl in Outside > Birding

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APES Teh Bird F33der V1.0

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Three R's

Reduce-To decrease daily usage of products and materials. ex: Drinking filtered tap water instead of out of water bottles

Recycle- To restore materials into a product. ex: Used drawing paper to plain white printer paper

Reuse- Realizing another use for a product instead of simply trashing it. ex: Refilling empty water bottles

Upcycle- to reuse materials in a way that creates a better product than the discarded materials themselves. ex: Collages made from newspapers and magazines

The difference between recycle and upcycle is recycling simply takes a waste product and returns it back into its previous shape. Upcycling reuses the waste product/materials by combining them for a better and usually more glamorous purpose, such as art projects and daily tools.

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Intro

This project is intended to be a cheap (read: ghetto) alternative to a bird feeder. The bird feeder created from this Instructable is supposed to be non-toxic and mostly biodegradable. Cue stereotypical tree hugger thoughts: "Think of the birds, environment, etc." I hope you enjoy this project!

Note: Glue and staples were avoided due to the potential to become a choking hazard and both are likely toxic to birds and wildlife.

Time taken to create: ~10 mins

Cost to make: $0 (excludes bird feed). It costs more to recycle the materials than to make a bird feeder out of them.

Materials used in creation of "teh bird f33der":

  • Foam bowl
  • Scotch tape
  • 4 craft sticks
  • empty water bottle
  • ~18 inches of string (hard to see in pic)

Ignore stuff in the pic that is not listed above.

Tools used:

  • Scissors
  • Drill/knife

Note: The drill makes it easier to poke holes through the water bottle. If concerned for safety, an X-Acto knife (or any other sharp knife) will also work.

Step 1

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Drill a hole near top of water bottle for the string to go through.

Either tie the string now, or wait and do it as last step. (I left it as is and did it as the final step.)

Step 2: This Is Complicated (but Not Really)

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1. Poke two holes into bottom of bottle.

2. Insert a craft stick into each hole about halfway through. (2/4 craft sticks used so far.)

3. Next, tape two craft sticks into one long stick. (4/4 craft sticks used)

4. Glue all craft sticks down with scotch or masking tape.

5. Keep them like that for the rest of this dang project.

Step 4: Poke 'em? I Barely Even Know Them!

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1. Position water bottle above foam bowl

2. Mark where the craft sticks touch.

3. Poke 'em until the hole is big enough (Eheheh, that's so erotic... ON A SERIOUS NOTE, IF HOLE IS TOO BIG, IT WILL BE HARDER FOR YOU FOR FINISH CRAFTING THE BIRD FEEDER.)

4. Stick sticks in holes and watch as nature takes place.

5. Tape those sticks down as if they'll jump into your eyes and lodge themselves in your cerebrum the moment they are loose.

Step 5: Cut for Birdies to Get Their Foodies.

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Pardon the lazy paint job.

Basically, cut out a retangular fold on a side, as seen in the picture. Preferably close to the bottom because of gravity. This will act as the "door" for bird food once you add some in.

Step 5: Finale

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See how the bottle seems to magically float in the air? That's due to the usage of clear nylon string. Tie the thing with any kind of string in the most complex and strongest loops you can.

Congrats!

Well done. You've finally completed building a bird feeder. Yay.

Add bird food and hang it outside or something. Birds will love you for it.

Be careful of strong winds; the environment-friendly bird feeder will be blown apart like New Orleans during Katrina.