I wrote a glowing report on this Heath Outdoor Adjustable Dome Feeder very quickly after I bought my first one but then realized that I didn’t really have enough experience with it to know that I would be saying the same thing a year or so later, so I deleted it until a later date. My reason for buying it was needing a way to control access to the seeds by the larger birds, especially the doves and cowbirds. I’m glad that I pulled my first review because it wasn’t long before those same birds were finding ways to shove themselves underneath the dome anyway. What I’ve had to do, instead, is to train the cowbirds that they weren’t welcomed in my feeding area at all — time-consuming but worth it. I’ve also largely trained the doves to go strictly to the ground feeders; only newly visiting doves here don’t seem to know the meaning of my calling out “Doves down!” So, there was more an evolution of working with the birds to keep them off the feeder poles, rather than just depending on the feeder’s height-adjustability feature. Nevertheless, I do keep the height as low as possible to make the feeders less appealing to larger birds but high enough for the smaller birds to learn to fly up under the edges of the domes and adjust their own height once underneath. I love the full transparency this particular dome has which allows me the added enjoyment of the full feeding experience of the birds and still could envision feeder poles with no other feeders than these by Heath. I know, however, that other types of feeders are needed by different species of birds, so variety is needed for both that and for aesthetic reasons. Still, I love the feeder and the special attribute of full visibility of the smaller songbirds eating from it, enough to have bought a second one this past August. This last winter here in NC took great toll on these feeders, however. I have to assume it was the weather because the plastic which holds in place the lower part of the post threads both broke this week, just two days apart. They’re the only feeders, too, that I own which did break. The constant expanding and contracting of the plastic against the freezing metal pieces had to have weakened them, and I’m sure there had to have been times when I pushed too hard or long while working with reconnecting the pieces. I’m not sure there could be any solution to this problem. It certainly has no effect of my love for the Heath feeder because I’m placing another order for one or two today to replace the ones I broke this week and look very much forward to having them back on my poles. The price is such that ordering new ones each spring is more than worth it for me to own them. This wouldn’t be the best feeder purchase for someone looking for permanence but it is certainly one of the most enjoyable feeders I’ve acquired to date. I highly recommend them for the added pleasure of birdwatching they provide. *Update 4/25/19: These may well develop small cracks early due to overtightening of the long screw into the base. I’ve learned now not to “give it an extra turn to make sure it doesn’t loosen.” Mine does loosen some from the heavy bird activity because my birds do love these! I’ve also stopped trying to force feed in from the side, which puts extra pressure on the plastic base. Since I noticed some cracking of the plastic base on this latest one I’ve ordered, what I did was to remove the bottom screw from the base and super-glue it in, plus I super-glued around the entire base system. I keep my tendency for speed and impatience in check now and don’t fight the unit. I remove the top part every time I want to put fresh seed in — which, here, is daily since whole families of birds like to get into it at the same time. It’s very best feature when keeping the distance between the top and bottom limited in order to prevent larger birds from getting in, is that, when it rains, it’s the only feeder I have which stays absolutely dry. The seeds remain edible even during the harshest of rains. I’ve noticed that the small birds learn how to fly to it, stop a little below the bottom part’s edge through fluttering their wings to stay afloat, and then easily enter under the top dome. This remains my favorite feeder, despite the extra gentleness or reinforcement it might require of the buyer. It remains the birds’s favorite feeder when it rains because all the other feeders’ seeds turn to mush. (I use the blends of seeds which have already had their hulls removed so that non-indigenous and nuisance plants can’t grow in customers’ yards. I learned that during my first year of birding when huge sunflowers and strange-looking “weeds” began growing at a fast pace all around the feeder poles.)
