Seeler
Well-Known Member
Every so often I see members of WC2, and former members who now post on Facebook, posting about the birds or other animals that visit their yards.
I wrote this for my writing group, I thought you might also enjoy it.
I call it Backyard Visitors.
Almost 50 years ago, shortly after we moved into our home in a relatively new housing development at the age of the city, a big Moose walked through our backyard tramping our garden and taking down the neighbour’s clothesline with his spreading antlers. We haven’t seen any animals that large since that time; but we do see wildlife at various times: raccoons, skunks, groundhogs, squirrels (both grey and red), and birds. When our granddaughter’s cat visits for a few days, we find the evidence that mice are plentiful in the vicinity.
The wildlife we are most interested in watching are the birds and we try to get them close enough so that I can identify them even with my myopic vision. We’ve tried birdfeeders at the corner of our deck outside our kitchen window. We have attracted various birds through the winter and early spring when we kept it full of seed but this became impossible when the gray squirrels founded it. At first we considered them amusing, but soon realized they were keeping the birds away while they gobbled up the seeds. We tried various birdfeeders and do-it-yourself methods to try to keep them from the feeder.
Move the feeder, putting it further away from the deck railing didn’t work. We found out how far squirrels can jump. Hang it higher in the tree and they drop down on top. Hang it further away on the clothesline and they run along the wire to reach it. My husband tried all sorts of ways to block them, using tin foil plates or large plastic pop bottles modified in various ways, and amused himself watching the squirrels figure out how to get around them. Finally I bought a ‘squirrel proof’ feeder and hung it on the hook of the metal post 2 feet above the deck railing. Three days later I posted a picture of a squirrel hanging upside down from the roof of the feeder helping himself to the seeds. We laughed.
Last fall I bought another “squirrel proof” feeder. This one was big, heavy, guaranteed, and expensive! We put it up and waited. It didn’t take long for the first squirrel to find it. We watched while that squirrel worked for several hours, going from opening to opening, only to have them close just as he tried to get a bite. Everything he tried resulted in failure. Eventually we saw him drop to the rail, turn his back to the feeder, shake his tail in anger and frustration, and scamper away. Over the next few days other squirrels tried their best but none were successful. Eventually they gave up and contented themselves eating whatever seeds the birds dropped, and the breadcrumbs we put out for them.
Through the winter we enjoyed visits from chickadees, juncos, blue jays, cardinals, red poles, finches, and Northern flickers. We’ve even had a downy woodpecker dropping by. In the spring came on we’ve been visited by Cedar waxwings, goldfinches, various types of sparrows, mourning doves. We also have larger birds: robins, grackles, and crows. Fortunately the crows are too big and heavy to perch on the feeder so they don’t stay around long.
We were puzzled recently by how quickly the seeds were disappearing from the feeder. We would fill it in the morning and watch the birds coming and going throughout the day, and the next morning it would be nearly empty. Repeat the process; find it empty again. Then one evening my husband heard a noise outside and looked out to see a young raccoon sitting on the deck rail and reaching up to the feeder to poke his little snout in an opening and get a mouthful of seeds, spilling as many as he ate. We watched in silence for a few minutes. My husband opened the door to try for a picture, and at the sound that little raccoon was gone. Perhaps the noise we made opening the door and talking before we went back inside was enough to make him nervous because he has not returned.
Now, as spring turns into summer, it’s time to stop filling the feeder and to concentrate our birdwatching to the hummingbird feeder in the front yard.
We had our problems with it too. Anytime we hung from a branch of our big maple tree inside the picture window, the ants would soon find their way to it, climbing up the trunk of the maple, out on the correct branch, and down the wire, to the feeder showing more intelligence than I would imagine those little insects could have. I tried various methods to block them but, with determination, they found ways to overcome them, to the extent of walking over the dead bodies of the companions caught by sticky tape. Hummingbirds won’t come near a feeder with ants around it. The solution wants to get a feeder that attaches to the front window with suction cups.
Most years we have a male and female pair. This year we seem to only have the female regularly, with a second female coming occasionally. I don’t know it’s the same female we’ve seen in previous years or what may have happened to the male.
It’s interesting to watch birds year-round, depending on the season.
I wrote this for my writing group, I thought you might also enjoy it.
I call it Backyard Visitors.
Almost 50 years ago, shortly after we moved into our home in a relatively new housing development at the age of the city, a big Moose walked through our backyard tramping our garden and taking down the neighbour’s clothesline with his spreading antlers. We haven’t seen any animals that large since that time; but we do see wildlife at various times: raccoons, skunks, groundhogs, squirrels (both grey and red), and birds. When our granddaughter’s cat visits for a few days, we find the evidence that mice are plentiful in the vicinity.
The wildlife we are most interested in watching are the birds and we try to get them close enough so that I can identify them even with my myopic vision. We’ve tried birdfeeders at the corner of our deck outside our kitchen window. We have attracted various birds through the winter and early spring when we kept it full of seed but this became impossible when the gray squirrels founded it. At first we considered them amusing, but soon realized they were keeping the birds away while they gobbled up the seeds. We tried various birdfeeders and do-it-yourself methods to try to keep them from the feeder.
Move the feeder, putting it further away from the deck railing didn’t work. We found out how far squirrels can jump. Hang it higher in the tree and they drop down on top. Hang it further away on the clothesline and they run along the wire to reach it. My husband tried all sorts of ways to block them, using tin foil plates or large plastic pop bottles modified in various ways, and amused himself watching the squirrels figure out how to get around them. Finally I bought a ‘squirrel proof’ feeder and hung it on the hook of the metal post 2 feet above the deck railing. Three days later I posted a picture of a squirrel hanging upside down from the roof of the feeder helping himself to the seeds. We laughed.
Last fall I bought another “squirrel proof” feeder. This one was big, heavy, guaranteed, and expensive! We put it up and waited. It didn’t take long for the first squirrel to find it. We watched while that squirrel worked for several hours, going from opening to opening, only to have them close just as he tried to get a bite. Everything he tried resulted in failure. Eventually we saw him drop to the rail, turn his back to the feeder, shake his tail in anger and frustration, and scamper away. Over the next few days other squirrels tried their best but none were successful. Eventually they gave up and contented themselves eating whatever seeds the birds dropped, and the breadcrumbs we put out for them.
Through the winter we enjoyed visits from chickadees, juncos, blue jays, cardinals, red poles, finches, and Northern flickers. We’ve even had a downy woodpecker dropping by. In the spring came on we’ve been visited by Cedar waxwings, goldfinches, various types of sparrows, mourning doves. We also have larger birds: robins, grackles, and crows. Fortunately the crows are too big and heavy to perch on the feeder so they don’t stay around long.
We were puzzled recently by how quickly the seeds were disappearing from the feeder. We would fill it in the morning and watch the birds coming and going throughout the day, and the next morning it would be nearly empty. Repeat the process; find it empty again. Then one evening my husband heard a noise outside and looked out to see a young raccoon sitting on the deck rail and reaching up to the feeder to poke his little snout in an opening and get a mouthful of seeds, spilling as many as he ate. We watched in silence for a few minutes. My husband opened the door to try for a picture, and at the sound that little raccoon was gone. Perhaps the noise we made opening the door and talking before we went back inside was enough to make him nervous because he has not returned.
Now, as spring turns into summer, it’s time to stop filling the feeder and to concentrate our birdwatching to the hummingbird feeder in the front yard.
We had our problems with it too. Anytime we hung from a branch of our big maple tree inside the picture window, the ants would soon find their way to it, climbing up the trunk of the maple, out on the correct branch, and down the wire, to the feeder showing more intelligence than I would imagine those little insects could have. I tried various methods to block them but, with determination, they found ways to overcome them, to the extent of walking over the dead bodies of the companions caught by sticky tape. Hummingbirds won’t come near a feeder with ants around it. The solution wants to get a feeder that attaches to the front window with suction cups.
Most years we have a male and female pair. This year we seem to only have the female regularly, with a second female coming occasionally. I don’t know it’s the same female we’ve seen in previous years or what may have happened to the male.
It’s interesting to watch birds year-round, depending on the season.