When selecting a bird feeder, a vast array of options are available for the discerning consumer. There are rustic wooden feeders, rugged plastic ones, and wire or metal options available in any number of sizes and shapes… but for sheer versatility, it’s hard to beat the glass bird feeder.
Easily worked, easily shaped, and easily colored, glass can be arranged in myriad ways, from simple panes arranged in a basic square, all the way up to amazing works of the glassblower’s art. The range of colors is almost limitless, and stained glass feeders are simply stunning in the afternoon sun.
Most glass bird feeders are designed to be hung, providing a beautiful scintillating display as they twist and turn slightly in the breeze. The most common variety of glass bird feeder is the metal-frame variety with panes of beveled glass, which provide a subtle prismatic effect, but many other varieties are available.
Because glass is easily sculpted, there are a number of feeders constructed exclusively of glass, and formed into shapes that range from pear-shaped globes to elegant swans and abstract sculptures that are simply wonderful to behold.
The ease of coloring glass also lends itself to lovely patterned displays, and some glass bird feeders rival the most beautiful of stained glass windows in churches and cathedrals; some of the more famous designs have been reproduced or imitated in feeders, and provide a lovely work of art even without the presence of birds.
It also cannot be overlooked that glass is easy to clean. A glass bird feeder can be easily scrubbed into brilliance with no solvents or chemicals, which might otherwise sicken or even poison the birds feeding from it.
Another benefit of the glass bird feeder is that glass doesn’t absorb or retain odors and stains; other materials often soak up the smell of chemicals, which can drive many birds away altogether, or become stained and cannot be cleaned at all.
Glass is also very strong and resilient; while it is frequently viewed as fragile or breakable, this is largely a misunderstanding, as glass withstands temperature changes quite well – and can even withstand substantial impacts without breaking.
From a purely practical standpoint, a glass bird feeder provides easy visibility of exactly how much seed is left in the feeder, and provides ample warning of when it is time to refill it.
And it simply cannot be stressed enough how beautiful a glass bird feeder is. As it hangs in the breeze, swaying gently in the eddying currents of air, the sunlight plays beautifully across its translucent surface… providing a gorgeous work of art at any time, accented by the lovely birds feeding there.
Many glass bird feeder enthusiasts simply refuse to use any other kind of feeder. Once you’ve seen them shine in the sun, and experienced the ease of care and cleaning that come with them, you may feel exactly the same – that there is just no other kind of feeder quite like it.