A Year of Blogging: January 5, 2011

Today is Bird Day. We spend a lot of effort making sure the birds in our neighborhood are very happy. Fear of poisoning them led us to stop buying commercially made bird food. We have been going to Wild Birds' Unlimited for the past year and a half or so. We get different food based on the season. Right now, we are feeding them the winter blend, which gives them more energy for the winter. We have a bird feeder a couple of feet off the patio. Then we added a suet holder on the patio, this is for the woodpeckers. Last year we added a finch feeder because the finches were eating out of the sunflowers we planted, and it was pretty having them around. This year we added a peanut feeder- it holds peanuts in the shell. This was supposed to be for the blue jays, but the cardinals like it, as do the squirrels. We also added a little feeder to the window, it has suction cups that hook to the window. The problem with this one is that the birds hooked their claws into the screen, so now we have to replace the screens! Sometimes, instead of putting peanuts in the peanut holder, we just put them onto the roof of the doggie condo which is below the windows. Then the birds fly up and take the peanuts right in front of us. The trouble with feeding the birds is that you end up with squirrels. And the pesky birds, like grackles and starlings. We put out the food to get Cardinals, Blue Jays, Finches, Tufted Titmouse, and occasionally woodpeckers. We have a lot of Wrens and the aforementioned pests. And we have a very large hawk in the neighborhood, who appears to truly appreciate our efforts. The hawk will sit in our yard for an hour or so at a time. I guess he's waiting for lunch to arrive. I took this picture from my dining room window. The hawk was sitting on our patio fence, maybe six feet away from me. We've put a lot of effort into creating a wonderful habitat for the birds. Erich and I both enjoy watching them from the house, and I'm getting better at taking their pictures through the window. You have to be kind of stealth, and move behind the curtain without them noticing you. I've gotten so 'close' that the birds are looking in the windows at me. Unfortunately, as much as we tried to make the yard bird friendly, our neighbors had other ideas. Erich's dad cut down the lilac bush that bordered our yard. The birds used this as cover, and would fly from the bush to the feeder and back. The neighbor on the other side of us cut down the hedgerow that ran along our fence. It was on her side, but it was still a home for the birds. We've noticed this winter we have fewer cardinals than we've had in the past, and I suspect the lack of bushes has something to do with it. We started planting our own, but it will be a few years before they are big enough to provide shelter for the birds of the neighborhood. For now, I continue to go to the window every time I hear the blue jay cry. I keep hoping our cardinals will come back soon, and our yard will be once again filled with the harmonious songs of our feathered friends.