After finally admitting the resident hummingbird (Hummer) was gone for the season I reluctantly took down my feeder. I never time it correctly and have to dump a jar of delicious humming bird sweet red liquid every Fall. Which is also the signal to start purchasing "Bird Food" at our local garden center to sustain the hardy Winter flock. We are philosophically opposed to feeding in the summer as there is plenty of juicy forageable floral available throughout the garden areas. The deer of course feed all year and make no disctinction between flowers, weeds and cultivated items. The battle of the cages allows some of the tomatoes to survive to maturity.
As with all groceries, seed has gone up $5, so no fancy peanuts in the bag this year boys and girls. Some birds, who shall not be named (bluejays) will dig furiously through what they consider the more inferior components to tease out the peanuts. This is much to the delight of the squirrels and chipmunks as the ground scattering provides them a meal as well. The brilliant metal plate system on the feeder pole has thus far stymied their efforts to attack the feeder directly.
First visitor to discover "Dinner has been Served" was the lovely brown sparrow. Quietly, stealthily it happily enjoys the feeder solo. Being a lowly sparrow he does not feel a need to draw attention by bragging about his discovery. The next visitors are chickadees who are there morning, noon and night. Again not a whole lot of chippy or chirpy advertising going on. Next Madame Cardinal makes an appearance in her drab grayish-brown coat to nuzzle some ground seed. Finally that big buffoon Bluejay swoops in, tossing everyone off-perch so to speak and running his mouth. Drat the word is out and the dove flock makes a beeline for a free meal. Their huge bodies intimidate other diners much like a motorcycle gang clears out a bar.
Woodpeckers soon discover suet has been added to the menu and hang precariously upside down to peck out their share. We have actually seen giant (Woody Woodpecker-type) pileated woodpeckers peruse the feeder but their huge bodies make that an impossibility. They actually prefer pecking the 30 foot pine trees for grubs instead but curiosity you know. On one occassion I actually saw a hawk pluck a smaller, unsuspecting diner off the feeder. One has to admire the skill while temporarily mourning the loss of a small guest, but when the feeder opens, it is every creature for him or her self.
What is the deal with all the robins hanging about? The lawn is covered with them but I assume they will be plying the airways south before too long. Although they turn up their noses at common bird food, they do strip the chokecherries off the trees by the garage, that strangely enough, only come out in the Fall. Almost like there was a plan in place....
Although I don't mind offering some sustenance to the winter population I do think it's tacky that the male cardinal tends to run off the female when he is ready for dinner. Can't we all just get along?
No comments:
Post a Comment