Estate Feeder - The Story

The Estate Story

I invented and designed the Estate Birdfeeder in 1988. While on a visit to California, I had been challenged by a landscape architect acquaintance to come up with a feeder for public parks and more specifically golf resorts. She was familiar with another Lundquist design that was featured in The Sharper Image called the Meta Bird Feeder. We discussed the principal requirements of the feeder and came up with three main goals. First, the feeder had to be scaled for use in the larger landscapes offered in the golf resorts and public parks. (it turned out to be over eight feet tall). Second, it had to have lifetime durability and be 100 percent squirrel and rodent proof for urban park use. Thirdly, it had to have a large capacity making the task of refilling the feeder practical in an institutional setting.

On a flight back to my home in the Hudson Valley later that week, I sketched up the basic approach, invented the counterbalance lower-to-fill system, the seed delivery layout and the basic look of the feeder. Once home, I faxed my sketches to my dad, Oliver Lundquist. Oliver is an Architect and Industrial designer in NYC. He finalized the design; created a set of shop prints and a week later I emerged from my workshop with the first prototype.

Since that simple beginning 12 years ago, the Estate has become a fixture in professional landscaping circles as the only feeder good enough for these types of formal landscapes.

Now we are offering the estate to the General public through our website.

Tim Lundquist – Designer

The Registry of Nature Habitats is dedicated to the preservation of land that, over time, has been a site and home for complex ecosystems. The Registry advocates preservation of these lands and its inhabitants, environmental education for community individuals and groups, and nurturing of these lands through restoration in order to conserve its natural resources for future generations.

Preserve

The Registry of Nature Habitats manages critical habitat, consisting of wetland, lowland, upland, forest and stream habitat, providing a home to wildlife species and plant species. As part of the mission to preserve these lands and its inhabitants, the Registry will continue to contract with owners of ecologically sensitive land as it becomes available.

Educate

The Registry of Nature Habitats is a "teaching ground," able to provide hands-on, interpretive learning experiences in areas such as ecology, botany, wildlife science, and geology, as well as the arts and humanities. The educational mission of The Registry of Nature Habitats is to teach an understanding and appreciaton of the environment, the invaluable lesson of land stewardship of our natural resources, and to expand the general knowledge of this habitat through scientific research. This will be accomplished through a year-round experiential, interactive approach, along with onsite and outreach activities including providing educational material both on this website, on media and through educational seminars. An on-site facility is in the design phase, which will house classrooms and an administrative space.

Nurture

Through several restoration projects, including the rebuilding of stream corridors, reintroducing native flora, and permitting only low-impact activities, the Registry is nurturing much land back to its natural state, undoing the damage of hundreds of years. The Registry of Nature Habitats restoration plan, developed with public and private partnerships and with local community support, will increase the land's value, enhance wildlife habitat, improve water quality, and preserve the integrity of the land's bio-diversity.

Renewable Energy

Promote the use of renewable and efficient energy technologies through education, training, workforce development, research, and project facilitation. The Registry supports clean energy development and energy conservation as the means to protect the environment, enhance public health, and save our nature habitats.

Conservation

We seek to educate people and provide innovative solutions that will help build a clean, more efficient world, by reducing energy consumption in a prudent way that does not threaten the natural balance that supports all life.

The Estate Story

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