I haven’t been able to figure out two things this winter:\u00a0 why the birds aren’t using the birdfeeder that they loved the\u00a0most last winter, and why I found blood smeared all over another birdfeeder two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
The birdfeeder that the birds loved last year, and the year before, and the year before that, is hung from an iron bracket that is screwed into one of the cornerboards of our house.\u00a0 This feeder is in a very sheltered spot above our tiny four foot by five foot deck.\u00a0 The deck is bordered on two sides by house walls – one wall is the kitchen sliding glass door (great for the cats to view the birdfeeding action), and the other wall is the non-windowed living room wall.\u00a0 Not only have the birds loved this feeder, but the squirrels have loved to climb down the roof above, hang from the gutter, and jump onto the feeder.\u00a0 And the feeder is sheltered by trees, too; there is a lovely old large\u00a0apple tree just a few feet away that makes for a nice staging area for birds to wait their turn.\u00a0 And there is also a large maple tree just three feet away from the deck’s edge which also provides cover.\u00a0 A second feeder, also usually quite popular, hangs from a shepherd’s crook post stuck in the ground just by the maple tree’s trunk.<\/p>\n
But this year\u00a0both feeders have seen very little action.\u00a0 I thought perhaps it was because I first mixed safflower seeds and black oil sunflower seeds, but we’re back to just black oil sunflower seeds, and still not much activity.\u00a0 Maybe it was because we bought a new feeder for the spot over the deck?\u00a0 Same style as the old one, but new?\u00a0 Maybe it smells like people and thus repels the birds?\u00a0 I haven’t lost a lot of sleep over this mystery, but I have been wondering.<\/p>\n
And then today I was talking on the phone to my dad while standing in the kitchen and watching the birds at the feeders; today there were actually quite a few birds enjoying a post-snowstorm meal.\u00a0 A peaceful, lovely scene: fresh snow, lots of pretty little songbirds eating, and even a couple of squirrels chowing down.\u00a0 Then – Zoom!\u00a0 Whish!\u00a0 Bam!\u00a0 <\/em>– a Cooper’s Hawk brazenly flew in just inches from our sliding glass door and tried to pick off a goldfinch that was at the feeder over the deck.\u00a0 I think the goldfinch escaped, and the other birds and the squirrels dissipated in panic.\u00a0 The Cooper’s Hawk settled down on a branch of the maple tree, looking hungry and smug, until I scared it away by going up to the sliding glass door; it flew\u00a0across our neighbor’s yard and settled into a large tree with a commanding view of our feeders.<\/p>\n Mystery solved.\u00a0 If I were a bird, I wouldn’t eat at our feeders, either.\u00a0 And now I think I have a pretty good idea of where all that blood came from on the one feeder.\u00a0 Yikes.\u00a0 A bit gruesome, but I have to admit that it was pretty spectacular to see that hawk in action.<\/p>\n I’d love to hear if anyone has any good ideas of how to feed the songbirds while repelling the hawk from the area of the feeders.\u00a0 Or perhaps we’ll have to just give up and stop putting seed into those feeders…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I haven’t been able to figure out two things this winter:\u00a0 why the birds aren’t using the birdfeeder that they loved the\u00a0most last winter, and why I found blood smeared all over another birdfeeder two weeks ago. The birdfeeder that the birds loved last year, and the year before, and the year before that, is … Continue reading The Birdfeeder Mystery – Solved<\/span>