Click through our slideshow to see how to turn a plate and a bowl into a bird feeder.

Up the hill behind my home in San Francisco, there's a small open-space preserve. It's basically a eucalyptus grove that was planted over a hundred years ago on a rocky, treeless crag. The non-native trees have been a source of debate in recent years; some people advocate cutting them down and replacing them with native shrubs. I see their point, but I favor keeping the trees for one simple reason: birds.

Birds everywhere are in trouble. Cats, climate change, and tall buildings all take a toll, but the biggest threat by far is habitat loss, according to Kenneth Rosenberg of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. "It's a big term that includes everything from overfishing in the oceans to suburban development and agriculture eating up grasslands and forests," he told me.

Conservation is complicated. All I know is, I don't want to make life any harder for the owls, hawks, and 60-plus species of songbirds that nest in my "backyard" eucalyptus forest. In fact, I decided to provide them with some convenient snacks. I rummaged through my kitchen cabinet for a serviceable but underused plate and bowl, drilled a hole through each, and connected them with a carriage bolt. Then I hung the contraption up in a tree out back and filled it with birdseed. My feathered neighbors have been flocking to it.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

Melamine* bowl and plate  
Electric drill and drill bit
5/16 x 10 carriage bolt 
3 nuts to fit the carriage bolt
3 washers to fit the nuts
Glue
Cord (one to two feet long, depending on your tree)
*Melamine (plastic) or wood dishware work best. Ceramic and glass are problematic.

DIFFICULTY LEVEL: 3

CONSTRUCTION TIME: 1 hour

Keep in mind that ceramic dishes take longer to drill through than your cast-off melamine picnicware. Based on a project by Erin Morey.

Drill a hole through the center of the bowl wide enough for the carriage bolt to fit through.

Repeat step 1 with the plate.

Slip a washer onto your carriage bolt, and slide it down to the bottom. Slide the bowl to the bottom to rest on the washer. Then apply a little glue to the washer to help stabilize the bowl.

 Add another washer, so the bowl is sandwiched between two washers, and apply more glue.

Take a nut and thread it a few inches down the carriage bolt. Put the plate (facing down) on top of this nut, and thread another nut onto the carriage bolt. Tighten the two bolts by hand so that the plate is secure.

Slip a washer onto the top nut. Then screw on the third nut.

Tie on the cord, hang up the bird feeder, and wait for birds.