Feeding the Birds

Unfortunately, it's happening again. The kitties and woofies are going to the Rainbow Bridge faster than I can keep up with them, even if I do a tribute post every day. I am not going to do that, as I can't handle it emotionally any more and it makes my blog look like an obituary page. I will do the tributes in between the fun posts, even if it means that the tributes appear long after the event.

I thought I would tell you about my adventures in bird feeding. It all started many years ago when my family discovered that the ravens who hang around liked to eat chicken skin and just about any other food that we wanted to discard. The ravens are a riot to watch and we were soon getting fat from the grocery store, just to feed them. There weren't any ravens around this morning and I didn't have anything for them, so there isn't a photo of the ravens.


This is the suet feeder in the crabapple tree next door. For many years, we had birds spending the winter based in this tree, eating the crabapples. Then about two-three years ago we had a late frost and all the crabapple blossoms were killed. I didn't want the birds to starve, so I put up this feeder and put out a big block of birdseed. Every critter in the neighborhood enjoyed that block of birdseed, including the raccoons and deer. The ravens really like the suet, too, though I also get smaller birds eating it. I have kept it full every since, but decided against another big block of birdseed.


This is the finch feeder, which contains thistle seed. This spring a pair of house finches built a nest in our carport and I wanted to make sure that the babies had enough to eat near their nest, so I put this feeder up. They were emptying it every day at first, but now it last two-three days.


When my Mom began to get very frail, there was very little that she could do and she got bored. I put up this general small bird feeder to give her something to watch. I also thought that the tweeting of the small birds might amuse her. It worked, to some extent. Up until winter arrived, this feeder was also being emptied every day, but now it generally lasts two days. I started putting just the cheap seed in it, but the hulls were making quite a mess on the ground, so now I use the no waste bird seed. It attracts a variety of small birds, including finches, sparrows and juncos. I have also seen a dove or two on the ground, eating up what the smaller birds drop.


This was my attempt to take a picture of the feeders with birds actually using them. It didn't turn out very well, but you might just be able to make out some birds if you click on the picture to make it bigger. That's my adventures in feeding the birds. It's a reasonably inexpensive hobby and I am really enjoying it. I love hearing all the tweeting just after I fill up the feeders.