Observations At The Bird Feeder

We fed birds in the backyard for several years. My wife and I both enjoyed watching the avian antics at the feeders. The patterns of feeding of the many different varieties of birds that came there, summer, winter, spring and fall, were both fascinating and instructional. Each species had different modes of feeding, pecking order and gender order.

The small birds were the most fun to watch and the most difficult to catch at it. The black-capped chickadees seemed to have nanosecond feeding—they were eating one second and gone the next. The titmouse were pretty much the same in eating habit. Both would leave in the presence of larger birds, especially the bluejays.

I loved watching the sparrows, who were are most frequent visitors throughout the year. They seemed to enjoy the fray, chirping and dancing and feinting. They were common and cheeky and a lot of fun.

We had a family of cardinals who were permanent residents. They were shy birds, and would only feed if no human was in the yard with them, although they would occasionally come out when Marilyn was out there with them. Never for me though. My but they were beautiful, proud birds!

During various times of the year we would get some exotic migratory birds—finches and warblers, one indigo bunting who returned for several years running. They ate like soldiers eat—efficiently, quickly and gone! They were beautiful to see though, in their all too brief stopovers.

We had one woodpecker who would come over from our neighbors yard. Woodpeckers are not perchers, so they have a unique method of eating at a bird feeder. They hang by their feet from the perch and reach up between their legs to eat.

The blue jays were the bullies at the feeders. They were very territorial, and when they were feeding, nothing else would be at the feeder (with the sometime exception of the sparrows). They would go into aerial combat with anything close, but the sparrows were better fliers. You could just sense the frustration of the jays.

Then there were the lawn feeders. All birds are extremely messy eaters, and much seed went to the ground. We had pigeons (nasty, poopy birds!), dove, blackbirds and cowbirds, thrush, wrens, mockingbirds, etc., all of whom seemed to prefer the ground. They managed to both tear up a lot of grass and miss a lot of seed, which naturally sprouted.

We finally gave up feeding the birds. They were tearing up our lawn, pooping on furniture, cars, etc. The big birds bullied the little birds. We were spending a small fortune on bird seed. What we finally came to realize was, not only did the birds love to eat, however they approached it, but the big birds wound up with all the little birds' seed. We also realized that what we were doing was more for our entertainment than it was for the benefit of the birds. This was not a natural situation for the birds at all. The birds, especially the small ones, stood a better chance at life left to their own devices than around a communal feeder being bullied by larger, more aggressive birds. How very much like human life—the big guys get the lion's share and the little guys get the leftovers, if they eat at all.

©Phil Hodgkins 2002

Guestbook