By Great Falls Animal Hospital
While paying for several bird-related items and my sole reason for trekking to the Tractor Supply store, the cashier casually said, “It’s a thankless job but a special place in heaven for those that take the time to feed the birds.” I thought, she’s right in many respects. On the thankless side, the feeders do get a bit scudgy and need to be cleaned thoroughly or replaced. The bags of seed that make the most sense pertaining to cost are way too heavy for me to lug and try to gracefully pour into the bird feeder without spilling a lot of seed. The rain, which of late I cannot remember so much rain…and other precipitation, tends to easily find it’s way into the trays. The seeds get wet, stuck and if warm outside eventually moldy!
To be honest, this is my 4th bird feeder in the past year. Guiltily, I should have tried a bit harder at cleaning the feeders but my knowledge of bacteria and diseases pushes me to do the easier of the two and buy new feeders. A bit wasteful but in the grand scheme of things, I think it evens out. This bird feeder though, I’ve decided to modify! I bought cork board and glue and extended out the roof! Why don’t bird feeders generally have an extended roof? Is no one but me thinking of wet, moldy seed? Probably not…anyway, along with the extended roof, I placed waterproof strips on the top where the two sides of the feeder come together. It looks a bit like a ridge vent. We’ll see if this keeps wet and moldy seed in abeyance.
My feeder is ready, the glue is dry and it seems secure. I have a bird’s eye view (yup, I went there) of the bird feeder, hanging from a bracket off of my deck, from anywhere in my family room with the branches of taller trees and open space in the background. I stand quietly inside the window and I see birds of varying size, with their fluffy feathers and vibrant colors, checking out the new feeder. They fly a beeline to a nearby tree then darting away dipping through the sky. I wonder if they’re telling their bird buds of a new feeder or maybe they’re just happy and given a bit more time checking things out, will begin the full out ‘your turn,’ ‘my turn’ to eat at the feeder.
Special place in heaven? Oh, I don’t know. What I do know is it makes me happy to provide food to these little present-day dinosaurs. It makes me laugh when the ground feeding mourning doves balance their round little bodies precariously on the bird feeder but they make it work! And I could be wrong but it seems to me I see the same pairings of birds daily, the same two mourning doves, the same two couples of Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal, the same perturbed blue jay (he sounds annoyed but who knows, that may just be him!). It is homey and makes me smile to think my home base is their home base. My little bird crew.
Did I mention we’re getting a new puppy? I can’t wait to enrich his environment with these thankless yet fulfilling, amusing and beautiful birds. And the puppy…we’re naming him Odie .
Follow your dreams…they know where you’re going!
