Bird feeder

A bird feeder has a seed storage compartment at least partially defined by a side wall. Improved feeding ports are provided in the side wall through which birds may extract seeds from the storage compartment. Each feeding port comprises an opening in the side wall which is partially occluded by one or more resilient finger members. The finger members are arranged to prevent a free flowing escape of seeds from the storage compartment, and are flexible to accommodate forcible extraction of seeds from therebetween.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to bird feeders of the type having upstanding side 
walls with feeding ports therein through which seeds may be extracted from 
interior storage compartments. Although numerous types of such feeders 
have been developed and placed on the market, to date, none have 
satisfactorily dealt with the problem of providing feeding ports which not 
only afford birds with easy access to seeds in the storage compartments, 
but which also effectively prevent the free flowing escape and loss of 
seeds through the feeding ports during times when birds are not feeding. 
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
A primary objective of the present invention is the provision of a bird 
feeder having improved feeding ports which obviate the above-stated 
problem. Further objectives of the present invention include the provision 
of a bird feeder with improved feeding ports which are simple in design, 
relatively inexpensive and easily mass produced. 
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be 
described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein 
:

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION 
Referring initially to FIG. 1, there is shown at 10 a bird feeder in 
accordance with the present invention. The bird feeder 10 has a side wall 
12 closed at its lower end by a bottom wall 14, and having a removable cap 
16 at its upper end. The side wall 12, bottom wall 14 and cap 16 cooperate 
in defining an interior compartment for the storage of seeds or other like 
feeding material indicated typically at 18. The side wall 12 is preferably 
a tubular transparent plastic extrusion. Alternatively, however, other 
materials, either opaque or transparent, as well as other cross-sectional 
configurations, are also possible. A wire bail 20 is provided at the upper 
end of the feeder for suspension purposes, and the side wall 12 is further 
provided with a plurality of feeding ports generally indicated at 22, each 
having an underlying exterior perch 24 on which birds may alight in order 
to extract sseds from the ports. 
As can be better seen by additional references to FIGS. 2 and 3, each 
feeding port 22 comprises an opening 26 in the side wall 12, which opening 
is partially occluded by a plurality of mutually spaced finger members 28. 
The opening 26 is cut directly into the side wall 12, and the finger 
members 28 are also formed integrally with and of the same material as the 
side wall. This material is selected to provide the fingers with 
sufficient strength so that they can remain essentially parallel with the 
side wall and thus prevent the free flowing escape of seeds 18 from the 
interior storage compartment. By the same token, however, the finger 
members 28 have sufficient inherent resiliency so that if seeds are 
grasped by birds and forcibly extracted, the finger members will flex 
outwardly as shown by the dot-dash lines at 28' in FIG. 3. The spacing 
between the finger members is selected to suit particular seed types and 
sizes. 
Thus is will be seen that during non-feeding intervals, the seeds 18 will 
be retained in the storage compartment by the finger members 28. However 
those seeds resting against the interior surfaces of the finger members 
will be accessible through the spaces between the finger members, and once 
grasped, such seeds may be forcibly extracted with an accompanying 
momentary outward resilient deflection of the finger members. 
The finger members 28 can be die cut along with the opening 26, thus 
providing a low cost arrangement which is susceptable to mass production 
techniques. 
The finger members can take on any one of a number of configurations and 
arrangements. For example, FIG. 4 shows finger members 28a having 
rectangular rather than pointed shapes. FIG. 5 shows rectangular finger 
members 28b protruding into the opening 26 from opposite sides, rather 
than from the same side as shown in FIGS. 1-4. The number of finger 
members may vary, and under certain conditions, single finger members may 
be employed in place of the multiple fingers illustrated in the 
accompanying drawings. 
There may be situations where the feeder wall is fabricated of a material 
which for some reason is not susceptible to having finger members formed 
integrally therewith. Should this be the case, then as shown in FIGS. 6 
and 7, a plain opening 30 can be cut into the side wall 32, and an 
attachment such as for example a rectangular frame 34 then secured as at 
36 to the side wall. The frame can be of an appropriately resilient 
material with integral finger members 38 arranged to partially occlude the 
opening 30 in the same manner as shown in the embodiments of FIGS. 1-5.