I am a huge animal lover and after reading World Without Us (must read) and realizing how many birds die each year (from cats, windows, wind turbines etc) and how hard life is for them in general, I wanted to get a bird feeder and help these little guys out a bit more. I had a bird nest right outside my window and it was awesome to see the little guys grow up and take flight.
Backyard Birdshop is a very cool shop – the staff is friendly and knowledgable , and they have a good, earth friendly collection of bird feed. Box store bird feeds have either lots of fillers or they have seeds that are non-native which can start growing if they fall to the ground.
Anyways, check them out in the Portland – Vancouver area: