Patent ID: 7827936

Claim:
A bird feeder comprising: a housing for storing bird feed therein, including one or more ports through which access is provided to the bird feed, having an upper end and an open lower end and having a housing longitudinal center axis that extends between the upper and lower ends; and a base assembly adapted to close the open end of the housing, the base assembly including a main body portion adapted to fit within the housing at the open lower end of the housing so that the main body portion is rotatably fixed but removable with respect to the housing, and a manually operated rotational latch having respective locked and released positions, coupled to the main body portion and having a longitudinal latch center axis, the manually operated rotational latch being supported for rotation about said latch center axis and with respect to the rotatably fixed main body portion, the manually operated rotational latch, in the locked position thereof, securing the manually operated rotational latch and main body portion to the housing to releasably secure the base assembly to the housing, and in the released position thereof being rotatable about the center axes and relative to the main body portion to enable release of the base assembly from the housing, said latch center axis coincident with said housing center axis; wherein one of the housing and the latch has a first engaging member and the other of the housing and the latch has a second engaging member adapted to releasably engage the first engaging member upon positioning the first and second engaging members adjacent one another and wherein the first engaging member comprises a projection and the second engaging member comprises a lip for capturing the projection in the engaged position of the latch; further comprising one or more bird feed perches extending from the housing under the respective one or more ports; and wherein the bird feed port comprises an insert releasably engaged with the housing, the insert having one of the first and second engaging members.