Well, my birds are going to starve

[Village Idiot]

Well, they aren't my birds, and nature won't let them starve.

But I went to town today to by some birdseed, some thistle and what I call plain old bird seed, both bulk. At the register it came up at twenty seven dollars and some odd cents, I looked, agog, at the young lady at the register and she looked back at me with a "you're just another stupid old man who's stupid enough to buy bird seed" look.

I think she's right.

[jdd2]

Have you read any of the news saying that due to bird flu feeders/baths are being discouraged?

[drlj]

I don’t feed the birds. It is expensive and attracts a lot of mice, raccoons, and seed eaters from IL. Who needs that? Plus, the birds show up at about 4:30 and start making a horrible racket. Back in the hollar, my people eat birds. Chicken fried sparrow is good and maybe a robin fricassee on Sunday, you know?
4 & 20 blackbird pie is real! Stephen Stills got the idea for a song from all the area menus advertising 4&20 pie. So I hear, anyway. Good song. Good pie.

[epaul]

As it turns out, 75-80% of the world's sunflower seed/oil market is supplied by Russia and Ukraine.

Current sunflower contracts in the U.S. are being written for $40 plus per hundred weight. Last year at this time you were lucky if you could contract for $18 a hundredweight.

(80% of this country's sunflowers are grown in North Dakota and South Dakota.)

[Marty]

May 14, 2022 19:34:15 GMT -5 jdd2 said:

Have you read any of the news saying that due to bird flu feeders/baths are being discouraged?

While reading Todd's post that was going to be my reply.

Riley kitty is not happy and lets me know every morning. He sits on the breadbox looking out the kitchen window at the bird feeders that our neighbor Angie keeps and they are empty, so no birds. He whines, well meows, "where are my birds?" Angie knows about the bird flu so she is keeping the seed and suet feeders empty until further notice. But Riley just wants to see birds.

On the other hand, Simon only wants to catch birds, or anything else. He got a baby bunny the other day and had it in the front flowerbed happily munching away. By the time I had energy to get a shovel and try to remove it he had eaten his fill and hid the body.

[Shannon]

Yes. I've taken my feeder down and emptied the bird bath for now. This avian flu is wreaking havoc among poultry producers, and is the reason you may have trouble finding chicken at your grocery store.

I guess I'll have to deal with the price of seed whenever I put my feeder back up.

[Village Idiot]

May 14, 2022 19:34:15 GMT -5 jdd2 said:

Have you read any of the news saying that due to bird flu feeders/baths are being discouraged?

Yes, about the baths, at least. I was not aware of feeders being discouraged. Good to know, thanks.

[millring]

I loved feeding birds. I used to have a thistle feeder right outside the shop window over my wheel. The sound of goldfinches at the feeder was music to my ears.

Feeding birds is -- to a fella my age who first knew the music he loved as it came on the radio in a catch-as-you-can manner -- a little bit like finally buying a record collection of favorites. With records I could listen to the songs I wanted, when I wanted. As a convert to Pandora, I find that it brings back the excitement of randomly catching a favorite unexpectedly, or being introduced to something I had never heard. Still, I'm not giving up my record collection.

Seeing birds in the wild is most often such a fleeting thing. Almost frustratingly so. I wish those sightings could last longer so I could drink in a bit more of them. But they rarely happen that way. Audubon is famous for capitalizing on the frustration of that fleetingness. His prints allowed us to study what we had heretofore only been able to catch glimpses of. Photography does the same.

Feeders allow us better glimpses of the fleeting. It buys us time with the birds we otherwise only glance.

[John B]

Here's one to analyze. The past two years we've had a hummingbird feeder. We love it, but we also wanted to attract other birds to our backyard. So we bought a nice little bird feeder.

But they're the wrong kind of birds. Yes, we'll have some pretty male house finches, with their red heads, and a female cardinal perched on one of the "shepherd's crook" arms near the feeder the other day. But who's eating all the seed: Brown-headed cowbirds. The birds that Merlin describes as "unpopular due to their parasitic habit of laying eggs in nests of other birds." Another website lists them among the most common "bully birds" at feeders.

Where are the martins and swallows? How about both ma and pa cardinal coming to visit and staying awhile? Where is the woodpecker? (waiting for me to put out the right kind of food, no doubt). Where are the pretty birds, the fancy birds? Nope, cowbirds. Parasitic cowbirds that fight each other over food.

And yet, cowbirds gotta eat, too. If I'm going to feed the birds (tuppence a bag), I can't be choosy about who decides to feast. I suppose I can vary what I put in the feeder, but I suppose I get what I get. I can't control who shows up and who gets what. Right?


Cowbird, when I asked him to smile for the camera and Merlin ID:




The backyard feeder setup so far, with no suet yet. Male house finch getting a snack.




P.S. As I was writing this, a male cardinal showed up and started to feed. I scared him off when I walked over to take a picture.

[epaul]

Nice looking yard!

[jdd2]

Seconding the great looking yard.

[John B]

It is an artfully-staged photo, but thanks.

[Village Idiot]

May 15, 2022 17:52:14 GMT -5 John B said:

It is an artfully-staged photo, but thanks.

Here is his yard from another angle:

[epaul]

Say, John, what size are those tires? um, asking for a friend.