"Feed the birds and what do you get? Fat birds!" From Mary Poppins
We purchased a bird feeder, my daughter and I, and a large bag of "Wild Bird Food" just last week.
We've seen many birds dancing gaily from fence to fence where the surrounding neighbor's and our backyard meet. They sit on the wires, or nest in the branches. Our small jungle gives them a veritable amusement park, with it's abundant variety of banana, avocado and palm trees.
When the sprinklers come on in the late afternoon, you see them speedily landing to take their highly anticipated showers. After a long hot day in the Florida sun, they make it look extremely enticing. More than once after witnessing this event, I've had to let my daughter jump over the sprinklers herself. Next to jumping in the pool, it's one of the most refreshing things you can do in the summertime.
After mowing my lawn, with the grass shaved thin and the soil exposed, and once I've walked inside to get myself a drink, our winged friends pounce down on the poor unassuming worms that frequent our pastures. You see them arriving in droves, as if they smelled the banquet from miles away.
We thought it would be nice to give them a feeder; a shaded perch where they could stop for a bite on their way to more exotic lands. For their first feeding, we packed it up halfway - not wanting to let any food go to waste and hoping to gauge what amount would be appropriate by the way they sought it out.
It took a few minutes before any of the birds took notice. Then a couple shyly approached the feeder. They rapidly flew in, pecked at it a little and, just as quickly, they were gone. Then more birds showed up. Little ones, big ones, dark ones, blue ones, green ones, white ones, brown ones...every kind of bird you can imagine. The black ones seemed to be the toughest. While they were eating, all the others waited their turn. Then the most amazing thing happened. One of the black birds began to kick off some food to the ground. The rest of the birds were eating away on the ground, as more and more fell on them. It wasn't quite fifteen minutes after we'd filled the damned thing that it was already empty. And all the birds were gone.
Now we've opted for filling it up a little at a time. And then maybe just a couple of times a week. Darn food ain't cheap, ya know!
We've seen many birds dancing gaily from fence to fence where the surrounding neighbor's and our backyard meet. They sit on the wires, or nest in the branches. Our small jungle gives them a veritable amusement park, with it's abundant variety of banana, avocado and palm trees.
When the sprinklers come on in the late afternoon, you see them speedily landing to take their highly anticipated showers. After a long hot day in the Florida sun, they make it look extremely enticing. More than once after witnessing this event, I've had to let my daughter jump over the sprinklers herself. Next to jumping in the pool, it's one of the most refreshing things you can do in the summertime.
After mowing my lawn, with the grass shaved thin and the soil exposed, and once I've walked inside to get myself a drink, our winged friends pounce down on the poor unassuming worms that frequent our pastures. You see them arriving in droves, as if they smelled the banquet from miles away.
We thought it would be nice to give them a feeder; a shaded perch where they could stop for a bite on their way to more exotic lands. For their first feeding, we packed it up halfway - not wanting to let any food go to waste and hoping to gauge what amount would be appropriate by the way they sought it out.
It took a few minutes before any of the birds took notice. Then a couple shyly approached the feeder. They rapidly flew in, pecked at it a little and, just as quickly, they were gone. Then more birds showed up. Little ones, big ones, dark ones, blue ones, green ones, white ones, brown ones...every kind of bird you can imagine. The black ones seemed to be the toughest. While they were eating, all the others waited their turn. Then the most amazing thing happened. One of the black birds began to kick off some food to the ground. The rest of the birds were eating away on the ground, as more and more fell on them. It wasn't quite fifteen minutes after we'd filled the damned thing that it was already empty. And all the birds were gone.
Now we've opted for filling it up a little at a time. And then maybe just a couple of times a week. Darn food ain't cheap, ya know!
Comments
I do miss watching them, though.