I spotted two waxeyes cuddling in the tree that’s right by our bird feeder. It was a race to get the photo as the birds use the tree to line up for the bird feeder. The bird feeder is full of sugar water and as you can see from the photo, the feeder is really popular. I clean the feeder at least once a day, and refill the wine bottle about twice a day. The feeder is a really clever design – with the bottle slowly releasing the sugar water as the level drops. I love watching these darling birds, but I take a lot of responsibility around feeding them, as it does come with risks of making the birds sick. And that’s the last thing I’d ever want to do. I have another feeder nearby that usually has energy logs or really ripe banana. There’s a lot of information online about feeding New Zealand’s native birds and a few differing opinions. After reading a lot online, I decided to follow the advice of using 1 cup of sugar to 1 litre of water. Apparently studies found that this kept the birds in better condition over winter. I’m also planting nectar friendly plants in the garden, and we already have a few plants that are popular with the birds.