Who says animals have no imagination

09 April 2013

702

R. Linda:

So what happens when you live in New Hampshire and you leave your bird feeder up past April 1? First, you get an alert from Fish and Game notifying you the bears are awakening. And then it goes downhill from there IF you don't remove the feeder that is.

This is the worst of them:

Yeah come on kids the pickings are good

And don't you think for a moment Momma Bear can't get that thing off the pole, empty or not it's coming down!

Usually, we have this: 

 

Willie Wallenda

This guy, no matter what we do (we even put a shield on the top of the feeder and later after much frustration of moving the feeder from one place to another, we put a shield on the bottom and STILL Willie there, managed to get in his favourite feeding position. He jumps like a trapeze artist like it's nothing! And usually, he's hanging upside down like a bat feeding away. He chases the birds, he just isn't a pleasant guy to have hanging around and I mean that quite literally. If I go out there he moves off and chatters at me like I have some nerve. But he does have one other connoisseur of birdseed that kicks his big grey arse.

And that would be his cousin, we call him Little Red. He's a nasty sort, he whips up on his bigger cousin Willie and the rest of the Wallenda's (there are seven in total) like there is no tomorrow.

He thinks nothing of taking the top off the feeder and sitting inside while he enjoys chowing down. Ain't nobody gonna bother him.

But wait, we aren't finished, the next smallest of this group which the kiddos think is "so cute" is another aggressive little squirt that may not take on his cousin tree rats, but birds? No problem!

Even with the wire guard - no one bothering this guy!

He doesn't like to be chased by his cousins, so he found a way to get inside the feeder on the bottom where he's protected by the mesh as the other two are too big to get inside the wire. I tell ya! We have changed up bird feeders so many times we should have stock in the companies. Each time, we are told THIS ONE is squirrel or chipmunk-proof. And each time these same varmints prove them wrong.

Then if this wasn't all bad enough, Tonya thought to put some sunflower seeds in the empty birdbath and get the big critters away from the hanging feeders so the birds could get the seed. Only THIS happened:

THESE weren't the birds she had in mind. And they are possessive of that birdbath.

We have learned not to buy a lot of seed anymore (you could be in the poor house up here just feeding the population of wild things) and we have learned that no amount of banging on the windows, opening the door, using wooden spoons to bang on pans to make a racket will deter any of these critters. They stop, yes they do, look, and then go right back to filling themselves up on food that wasn't meant for them. 

BUT the wife is a softy when it comes to robins. They are her favourite birdie and when they started showing up and got caught in the spring snow she put out fruit for them. I told her dog food, not fruit, they don't eat that. But she threw out apple slices and now we have THIS:

 

Opossum Pete as he's known around the house. Ewww. Looks like a rat, just bigger (which isn't a comforting thought)

So here we are, the snow has melted, and there is no reason to keep the feeder up, NOR throw fruit to the non-fruit-eating robins. The elimination of the backyard view of the bird feeder has brought with it a new problem. That would be Tonya's guilt. It seems now that the big aggressors are no longer frequenting the yard, the chickadees, juncos, titmice and nuthatches sit in the tree by the back porch and chatter madly at the wife. She thinks they are asking her for seed!

I said DO NOT DO IT TONYA. Don't! The buds are on the trees, the food is there, they will be fine, and they don't need seed or the feeder to be put back up. No! But she did it anyway, and now we have THIS:

Yee-ah -- we are back to where we started and he looks comfortable!

Gabe
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