Birds of a Feather

“The reason birds can fly and we can’t is simply because they have perfect faith. For to have faith is to have wings.”  J.M. Barrie 

I have been feeding  songbirds for over 25 years.  Over these many years, I have maintained a love-hate relationship with birds and squirrels.  I love birds and I hate squirrels.  I know some people enjoy watching squirrels in their yard and even feed them.  Others actually keep them as pets.  I despise them. Folks say, “David, squirrels are God’s creatures too.  How can you say you hate them?” Ok, as the song says “Hate is a strong word, but I really, really don’t like them.”    My issue is that if they would simply share the feeder and share the food I might not feel that way about them.  But they greedily consume copious amounts of the food and are incredibly destructive.  Besides quite often knocking the feeder down, in many instances squirrels have totally destroyed my feeders.  Keep in mind too that squirrels are in the rodent family.  As far as I’m concerned, they are large rats with bushy tails.

Now let’s talk about songbirds.  I find songbirds to be both beautiful and delightful.  Over these years I have spent many blissful hours just watching them flit to and from the feeder. And I’ve also enjoyed observing their behavior at the feeder. Besides their exquisite physical beauty, there is the wonder of their song.  Each bird has its own distinctive call, its own mating cry that is a joy and a delight for me to hear. This list is far from  exhaustive, but here are a few of the birds who have visited my feeders over the years—chickadees, sparrows, cardinals, grosbeaks, blue jays, eastern bluebirds, wood thrushes, mockingbirds, house wrens, and orioles.

Besides these birds I have mentioned, there have been several varieties of woodpeckers in my trees and on my feeder.  In particular there have been red-headed woodpeckers and an abundance of downy-headed woodpeckers. But the bird that most surprised and delighted me was the pileated woodpecker that visited my feeder one afternoon several years ago.  Having this bird land at my feeder was like  a 747 landing at a municipal airport.  The bird was massive. From head to toe it measured over two feet.  The beauty of its feathers was stunning. I saw this majestic bird in time to not startle it, so he stayed at my feeder for several minutes before spreading its wings and flying away. I felt that I had witnessed a holy visitation of sorts. It would be like a fisherman tossing his line in the water to catch a speckled trout and he hooks a shark. 

Another bird watching experience that left me stunned was the day the chickadee kept one foot on the feeder and moved the other foot to my finger.  For several days this bird had let me get progressively closer and closer until I was standing next to the feeder.  On this particular day, I was standing right  next to the bird. I slowly lifted my open hand toward the bird when to my surprise, she stepped out onto my finger. Her left foot was on the feeder and her right foot was on my finger.  I just stood there in amazement while she continued to eat from the feeder.  But then I got greedy and encouraged her to step out into my hand. I learned then and there that “fly in your face” is not just a figure of speech.

No doubt my most incredible bird watching experience was not at my feeder, but out in God’s green earth. I’ll spare you the long story, but on a hike I sat down to relax and view the valley before me when a golden eagle floated into view above me. If enjoying its lazy circles was not enough  to my surprise she landed in a nest about twenty feet below me.  She had brought food to her eager and excited young  who poked their heads out of the nest to retrieve the food. To this day I don’t know how I got so lucky.

There is no such thing as a “squirrel-proof feeder.”  No matter what I have bought and used over the years, the squirrels eventually win.  Such was the case last fall when I took down everything, threw it away and spread my feed over the back yard. I was done.  But last week at Lowe’s, I was drawn to the wild bird section.  One feeder caught my eye. Since it didn’t promise to be a “squirrel-proof feeder”, I bought it and brought it home. After filling the double barrels with finch food and wild bird food, the first  guests that I attracted was a family of cardinals.  Cardinals mate for life and usually travel together, so both of them were at the feeder.  Several years ago, as I was purchasing some bird seed at Lowe’s, the cashier said, “I’ve read that men who feed wild birds are nice people.”  I told her that I hoped to live up to the reputation.  I can’t tell you for certain that I’m always a nice person, but I can tell you that in spite of its challenges, feeding wild birds has been one of the most enjoyable activities of my life.  One thing I’ve learned watching birds, like someone with a  hang glider, they jump before they fly.