we love our birds, too! we saw a woodpecker today while we were working in the gardens and stopped to enjoy his pecking, hoping the tree he was working on is not sick or infested! i saw a chickadee trying to get nectar out of the hummingbird feeder, something i had never in my life seen! i thought he might want water, but all the birdbaths were full. strange.
seems like everyone is nesting early, doesn't it? we saw many birds carrying nesting material as they flew through the gardens.
We just discovered that all the birds that come to our feeders are chickadees. We concluded that it's our new lattice-type feeders, which probably don't allow finches, crossbills, and other bigger-billed birds to partake. So we've inadvertently created a monoculture. We've done this because of our bad luck with the long, plastic-sided feeders that you have here in the picture. We've got about five old ones down in the cellar, with cracked sides, or ill-fitting perches. I got tired of them not being able to hold up over our harsh winters, and not being made of materials that I can recycle. So I went to the lattice-type (made of chicken-wire-type sides). My husband and I were out this morning at a pet store, but no suitable bird feeders, so this week I'll go to the wild-bird store, which - even though expensive - is probably the only place I'll find something suitable. (By now you're probably marvelling that I'm finally able to comment on your blog! I discovered that our daughter had once apparently left her username and password on google/blogger at my computer, and had probably left a cookie on it, according to my husband. So he had to clear it so I could re-register, and it seems to have worked. At last!)
ML--what a nice long post! I am so glad the issue was resolved. Little do we know the intricacies of security on PCs. That feeder in the picture is about 10 years old...but was in storage for a few of those years.
we love our birds, too! we saw a woodpecker today while we were working in the gardens and stopped to enjoy his pecking, hoping the tree he was working on is not sick or infested! i saw a chickadee trying to get nectar out of the hummingbird feeder, something i had never in my life seen! i thought he might want water, but all the birdbaths were full. strange.
ReplyDeleteseems like everyone is nesting early, doesn't it? we saw many birds carrying nesting material as they flew through the gardens.
We just discovered that all the birds that come to our feeders are chickadees. We concluded that it's our new lattice-type feeders, which probably don't allow finches, crossbills, and other bigger-billed birds to partake. So we've inadvertently created a monoculture.
ReplyDeleteWe've done this because of our bad luck with the long, plastic-sided feeders that you have here in the picture. We've got about five old ones down in the cellar, with cracked sides, or ill-fitting perches. I got tired of them not being able to hold up over our harsh winters, and not being made of materials that I can recycle. So I went to the lattice-type (made of chicken-wire-type sides). My husband and I were out this morning at a pet store, but no suitable bird feeders, so this week I'll go to the wild-bird store, which - even though expensive - is probably the only place I'll find something suitable. (By now you're probably marvelling that I'm finally able to comment on your blog! I discovered that our daughter had once apparently left her username and password on google/blogger at my computer, and had probably left a cookie on it, according to my husband. So he had to clear it so I could re-register, and it seems to have worked. At last!)
ML--what a nice long post! I am so glad the issue was resolved. Little do we know the intricacies of security on PCs. That feeder in the picture is about 10 years old...but was in storage for a few of those years.
ReplyDelete