Wind chimes hanging below bird feeder activated by the various perches when birds land on them.
A bird feeder with what looks like wind chimes mounted below it activated as described. The chimes themselves are static so as to not be activated by wind, the only activation mechanism being small strikers attached to the various perches birds land on to feed.
So when you hear a pleasant little ding or dings, you'll know a bird has landed on your feeder so you can look out the window and enjoy their visit.
I assume they might get scared at first but with time they'd figure out they're in no danger from the sound.
I'm really enjoying the bird feeder outside my home office window, think I might make one of these. Got the idea when one landed on a branch that tapped my window. Very pleasant.
I'll buy one if somebody's already thought of it. Only seeing a bunch of high tech camera alert systems which I'm not at all interested in. One even identifies the birds from a database. Thats' fine, but a pleasant little chime noise is enough for me.
Hmm, thinking little bells actually attached to the perch themselves might be enough. Just slip them over the perches of existing bird feeders. Like that better.
To be clear, it would need to make one ding when they landed, don't need to listen to a bell clanging like an alarm every time they move. Plus that would scare them off. Be annoying to me as well. One bird landing, one ding. Have them tuned to a nice major chord too.-- doctorremulac3, Sep 26 2022 Birds in the area might come to associate the ding with food.
Ordered the parts to make one. I'll report the results.-- doctorremulac3, Sep 26 2022 Since the chime is to notify you, the simple way to not scare the bird is to have a string from the feeder connected to a chime mounted to the window in such way that most of the sound energy is directed inward. Now an electronic solution is straightforward enough, but not very elegant. Since you want a ding when the bird arrives, but not necessarily when it leaves, make it activated by an increase in weight.
Simple setup: feeder hanging from string that goes over a pully then to a second pulley near the window, to a carefully chosen spring. As the weight changes, the pulleys rotate back and forth. The pulley by the windows in attached to another gear through a ratcheting mechanism, that actuates the clapper for the bell, so when the weight increases, the bell rings (possibly more than once for a heavy bird or as bird seed is being added). When weight is reduced by a bird leaving, the ratchet freewheels, and the bell doesn't ring.-- scad mientist, Sep 27 2022 This will be a nice percussive companion to the 'THUMP' they make when they hit the windows.-- mylodon, Sep 27 2022 [+]-- Voice, Sep 27 2022 //This will be a nice percussive companion to the 'THUMP' they make when they hit the windows.//
An impact sensing device that plays angels singing when a bird smashes into your window? Too weird? Yea, too weird. Even for the HB.-- doctorremulac3, Sep 27 2022 The woodpeckers were up all night playing jazz drums again-- not_only_but_also, Sep 27 2022 I heard Pinocchio had a woodpecker.-- doctorremulac3, Sep 27 2022 1. I love the visual that it brings to my mind.
2. The idea is brilliant and yes, I would buy two. One for the front of the house, second for the back or garage.
3. I bet they could memorize their own notification sound, and if it was a Mocking Bird it could reproduce the sound and make you think it had visited, when in fact he's across the street, having a cig, laughing at you checking the feeder. Hahaha, and I would pat him on the back for a job well done.-- blissmiss, Sep 28 2022 I'll send you a free one if this works. The parts should be here this week. If it works, I might make these to sell, I'll give you a free one.-- doctorremulac3, Sep 28 2022 Mocking Bird included?-- blissmiss, Sep 29 2022 more cowbell!-- mylodon, Sep 29 2022 Absolutely to both.-- doctorremulac3, Sep 29 2022 Absolutely to both.-- blissmiss, Sep 29 2022 random, halfbakery