Customer Reviews

Droll Yankees OWF Observer Window Bird Feeder

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The chickadees discovered the feeder 10 minutes after it was put up. Even a northern red-shafted flicker gave it a try and looked pretty silly in the bargain (the feeder is perfect for finch sized birds).

Safe from squirrels and directly in view (if you sit still for a few minutes, the birds will use it right in front of your face), this is the best feeder I've ever had.

NB: if you put up this type of feeder, you should also (should anyway) put up bird silhouettes in the windows. This will prevent birds from flying into your windows and injuring or even killing themselves.

I was given this as a house warming gift, and it was cute and charming and we did enjoy watching birds coming to feed right outside the window. We had to remove it within a month because:

- Birds hovering around it kept flying into the glass and injuring themselves.
- Squirrels kept jumping into the glass at high speed to raid it.
- Bird body waste kept accumulating on the window.

It seems like a good idea until after you pick up a dead bird or two from the ground below it, and you realize you really aren't doing much for birdkind with this feeder. The squirrels attacking it hit the window with enough noise to make everyone in the house jump, and it's just luck the glass didn't break and we didn't have a squirrel in the kitchen. Maybe if you have smarter birds and dumber squirrels it will work for you.

The birds love this one! I have to fill it every day- so the only problme then, is its not big enough!

As others have written, the feeder may cause hungry birds to fly into glass windows and end up crippled or dead. We got around this by choosing a shaded window facing a wooded area. The result? No glare or way for birds to mistake a window for the sky or reflected space.

Placement did not seem to decrease the bird population which stopped by. In our case, we bought the feeder to provide variety for a bird lover who was too ill io leave bed. It did the trick-and wonderfully. We all loved watching the birds as well as a squirrel which (luckily) seemed far more intent on pulling stuffing out of an old porch pillow.....for a nest?.....than raiding the feeder. We are very satisfied with our purchase (we are keeping an eye on that squirrel,though, in case it starts diving for the feeders) .Happily, our bird lover also enjoys watching squrrels so we have an additional spot for them. Is that a mistake?

I liked this bird feeder so much that I've contemplated buying it for Christmas presents! It's attached to our kitchen window and the birds love it! It's been up for 3-4 months and so far the squirrels have not been able to get to it. It's durable and serves its purpose. Very happy with the purchase.

I have two of these on separate windows. I live in North Carolina, and in April/May, both finches and cardinals visited. They come every morning. I feared these feeders would fall off of the windows. I have only had them for about a month, but there is no sign that they're going to fall.

I have my feeder on a window in my computer/piano room. While I compute or play, I can watch my birds. They don't even fly away when I move around. I'm ready to order 2 more.

This is a great bird feeder for ant bird lover!! Sturdy, well made feeder is east to install and gives you endless enjoyment!! Would rec. this to all!!

I was slightly apprehensive about a suction cup bird feeder, but this works great! It was easy to use; I followed the directions to clean the window and apply a little of my skin's oil to the suction cups to aid in the adhesion. The feeder has been snugly in place for 6+ weeks now. The outdoor temperature has varied greatly with no effect on the feeder.
We have no foliage right near our window, so we had to be patient, but after 4 weeks the birds started showing up. The view is wonderful and I'm thrilled with the product, especially for the price. The fact that it is MADE IN THE USA is a bonus! This would be a great gift for anyone who enjoys bird-watching.

UPDATE: Before I got this feeder, birds would hit my window several times a week. NOT ONE BIRD HAS HIT MY WINDOW since I put up this feeder!

I have had many bird feeders, but until this one they were all the type that you hang from a tree. I try to feed birds/squirrels near various windows as entertainment for my indoor cats. They love watching all the critters and "hunting" them through the windows and I enjoy watching them all.

Here in TX the heat and sun wear out plastic feeders pretty quickly so I've never had one last a year without something breaking. This is my 2nd feeder from this company and though this one has yet to break, I am not worried because Droll Yankee's customer service is awesome. The Droll Yankee packaging claims a lifetime warranty, but I've seen that with other companies and found it was much more challenging to get the replacement than it was worth. I had an excellent experience getting a replacement part for my other Droll Yankee feeder so this company has won a customer for life with me! You can read about my experience in detail via my review of the other Droll Yankee feeder (though the W1 Winner is more expensive than this one) - Droll Yankees W1 Winner Window Feeder

I was concerned that the suction cups wouldn't hold and I'd be picking the feeder up off the ground multiple times a day, but even with big squirrels leaping on it from the fence, it only falls once every 1-2 weeks, which is great.

If you don't want squirrels to get to this feeder, simply make sure there's no fence or anything they can easily leap to the feeder from and be sure it's not close to the screen or they will climb the screen (I have to get a new screen because of this) and then climb to the feeder from the screen.

It took a week or so for the birds to find the feeder, but once they did all was well. I have a cat tree right in front of that window so the cats can literally touch the window right where the feeder is. Some of the birds take off, but most of them just ignore the cats as they paw at the window, which is more fun for all of us. The cats enjoy those who fly away too though as I think it makes them feel like they successfully hunted a bird. :)

My least favorite thing about this feeder is that you can NOT adjust the distance between the top cover and the bottom tray. I like to keep it big enough so the squirrels and bigger birds can get in. They are able to with this pre-set distance so I'm happy, but if you want to shrink that distance to only let smaller birds in you may want to check out the Droll Yankee W1 Winner Windows Feeder per the link earlier in this review as that one allows you to adjust this distance. The W1 is much more expensive than this feeder though so there is a trade off for the adjustment functionality.

My most favorite thing about this is that the suction cups connect to the feeder so you place it all on the window together. That makes it easier to position since you don't have to manually judge the correct vertical/horizontal distance for the suction cups. Also, when the feeder does fall, the suction cups generally stay attached to the feeder so you don't have to hunt for a suction cup.

I highly recommend this feeder and really, any feeder from this company!