Plans Put Into Motion
Since I’m extremely impulsive, I went out to Wild Birds Unlimited and bought an 18″ diameter baffle for above the main safflower feeder. It’s a clear plastic dome that hangs above the feeder so that (theoretically) the squirrels cannot drop down and feast on seeds. Thus far, I have yet to see any squirrels make an attempt at the newly armored feeder, as they have been at the tiny suet feeder. The suet feeder has no baffle protection, but suet is pretty cheap and I don’t use nearly as much during warm weather so I don’t care at this point. I really hope I can see a squirrel attempt to land on the baffle and fall off; that would really make my day. The birds have not really noticed that there is a baffle and have continued to feed at the safflower feeder. I grabbed some shots that I’ll upload when I get a chance. Basically I sat very still on a lawn chair near the feeders with my camera for 30+ minutes while various bugs fed on me. Then I moved to the inside of the car, rolled down the window, and waited like a hunter ready to shoot (my camera) for another 30 minutes. The zoom is only 3x on my digital camera, so I had to get pretty close.
I also picked up a dinner bell feeder. I’m using this one for fruit because I want to attract some orioles or other fruit eating birds. Right now it’s got some canned peaches in it. I have yet to see any birds feeding on the peaches, but I’m not too worried since it takes birds a while to find the food the first time. I put one of the large bright pink azalea flowers (from the bush next to the cottage) on the fruit feeder in hopes that the birds will notice it. I recently read that waxwings also eat fruit and that sometimes you will find a waxwing that appears to be docile and injured. However, you should probably leave these waxwings alone because they are actually just drunk from fermented berries! Beware of drunken bird rage!
Old Blogger | Kabitzin 4/30/2004
