wild bird blog

We are Tom and Phyllis Roberts and this is our site and wild bird blog.

Some years ago we were involved in the sign business.  For a number of reasons things were not progressing as we had hoped.  It just felt like we were not headed in a comfortable direction.

Our sign shop was situated amongst several buildings and one of our neighbors was making wooden bird houses and he seemed to be very busy.  In fact the ups truck was there daily taking loads of birdhouses away.

It was then that we thought we were not in the right business.  After all we enjoyed nature and working with our hands.  But if we were to make bird houses and feeders they had to be different that anyone else’s.  I should say this was just prior to the propagation of the Internet so we did not go about searching for a design to “copy”.

Our thinking was something like this.  We wanted to use a material that not everyone else was using so this meant we would not be using wood.  Secondly they would need to be durable and weather proof.  And last they needed to be round, to fit a nest.  We figured that no where in nature can a bird find a nesting spot with 6 flat sides.  Usually the cavity is somewhat round. 

We were already working with clay so that seemed like a natural progression. 

The first design was based on nature, that is the general shape of a gourd.   We made the first one too small for anything but a very small bird so back to the drawing board and what we call the “tear drop” feeder was the final result.

And the birds could not have been happier.   We put them around the yard and watched in amusement as the finches, wrens and chickadees went from house to house searching for just the right one.  Of course they were all just about the same but the birds are picky about where and how they hang.

For what ever reason our first efforts were focused on bird houses, but we soon began modifying the designs to server as houses and feeders.  Other designs followed and eventually a web site to more or less serve as a catalog for our direct mail marketing.

We secured the OK from all the major wild bird franchises and began sending out mailers with links to the web site.  Since then we have used a combination of direct marketing, word of mouth and search engine results as our main tools.

Along the way we have had ups and downs such as problems that come with dealing with manufacturer reps and a fire that completely destroyed our studio space.

Now we have a new studio which we built on our property so our commute is about 30 seconds.  We still rely on word of mouth, Internet sales, direct mail and major arts and crafts shows to sell our bird houses, feeders and our clay wind chimes and ornaments.

Thanks for thanking the time to have a read and feel free to drop us a line or comment on our posts.