Catbird Seat

Catbird Seat – an enviable position, often in terms of having the upper hand or greater advantage. I’m not sure the term applies exactly here, but it seemed like a good title for the Instructable.

The youngest daughter gave me a bird feeder. It’s the kind with suction cups to stick to a window. The idea is you look out the window and watch the birds. It works great in that the birds come easily and eat up the seed. The trouble is, that whenever I or the cat are near the window the birds fly away.

The solution – mirrored Mylar to make the glass one way. During the day, it’s always brighter outside so the birds see only a reflection of themselves. The cat can watch the birds closely and they don't fly off. Sometimes the cat gets too excited and thumps on the glass, scaring the birds. But that only serves to illustrate how close she can get to them.

This is a simple Instructable since it only involves installing the bird feeder, then applying film to the inside of the window. I bought the film at our local TAP Plastics. They had several levels of reflectiveness/opacity. The helpful sales lady held up different films against their window until I could no longer see through from outdoors. It came from a roll much wider than I needed so I bought more than enough.

Bird Feeder Amazon $25 Bird Feeder Link

Mylar film TAP Plastics about $8

Soapy water

Squeegee

Installing the window feeder was easy. I made sure the window was reasonably clean, put some saliva on the suction cups, and squished the feeder into place where the cat and I could see the birds from my work space.

Installing the film requires cutting the film to fit the width of the window. I made the film high enough that the cat wouldn’t be likely to look over or pull down the film (about 20 inches high in my case). I sprayed soapy water onto the window, put the film in place, then used a rubber squeegee to press out water and bubbles. A paper towel or two is necessary.

So the cat spends many happy hours – well no – minutes, watching the birds. Easy amusement for an indoor cat. In the spring, I was having to replenish the seed every two days.