Today's Yesterday: I MISS BIRD FEEDING

One of the joys of the changes in the seasons, especially the coming of winter, used to be getting out the bird feeders and stocking up on various bird feed, including sunflower seeds. We have found that it is a joy that seems to have become very limited since returning home to our area of northwestern Pennsylvania.

Apparently, over the last thirty-nine years we were living in Florida, it seems that here in mid-western PA, bear and deer have taken a partiality to the free hand-outs of corn and seed that the feeders present. When approached about doing something to alleviate the danger of free-roaming bear in residential areas, especially where children live, the Game Commission’s lack of concern is reflected in its glib reply, “Then stop feeding the birds.”

I have seen pictures of the damage these bear do to feeders, mauling and mangling not only the feeders, but the posts that hold them, too. I have even seen pictures of dumpsters that have been dragged as far as a half-mile from their designated locations by bear on the prowl.

Ridiculous, you say. Bears sleep all winter long and can’t be that kind of a threat. Usually, true. But there has been a weather change over the last several years and the winters have not been as severe as they used to be to keep these animals dormant.

This is deer area. We, living in one of the more rural areas, have always enjoyed watching the deer as they moved from one stand of woods to another through our yards. They have not been too bothersome, except for their unappreciated nibbling on flower beds. However, I just learned this week that classmates of mine have had bird feeders mauled every bit as badly—by deer. And they live in more populated, residential areas!

I’m hoping to find the pattern I saw in one of my DIY books of a feeder that could be extended on a PVC frame from a deck railing. It enables easy access to filling the feeder, but puts the empty hull mess out into the yard—and keeps it above marauding animals.

This is a problem we did not have in our panhandle section of Florida. The worst problem was the ants that would be attracted by the spilled seed that the birds did not get around to cleaning up. I had two feeding stations…one small feeder right outside our kitchen window in my Japanese magnolia tree, intentionally for the smaller birds like the various sparrows, finches, vireos and chickadees, to name a few. One winter, we even had two pair of indigo buntings winter over. The other feeders were at the end of the yard near the privacy fence. That station held seven feeders on posts embedded into a cement pad. The purposes of the cement pad were to: 1. help the birds find spilled seed easier, and 2. eliminate unwanted plants from growing in the yard, again as a result from uneaten spilled seed. The bigger birds, like cardinals, jays, a woodpecker or two, and the pesky cowbirds, usually ate there.

Yes, in our section of sunny Florida, we usually had at least two weeks of straight sub-freezing weather, usually in late January or the first part of February. Sometimes we even had snow, and sometimes ice storms. Since the feeder by the kitchen was in the tree, the birds waiting their turn at the feeder would perch on the branches. The branch beside the feeder was slanted. It was kind of funny watching the birds when that branch was icy. They would perch near the top—and slide down and off the branch!

I hope you enjoy the pictures below of our feathered visitors.

Do you feed the birds? What kind of birds visit your feeders?