Bird Brains

Image courtesy of SlapLaughter

Remember when I said spring was on it's way?  Man, what was I smoking?!

But still, we are ever hopeful that winter will leave.  In the meantime, we are all doing our best to just get through it. 

This includes wildlife.  To do our part, we have a bird feeder outside the living room window.  It's one of the green cage things that holds a pressed block of birdseed in it.  We tried doing the tube things, but the wind is always blowing here, and more of that stuff ended up on the ground and growing in my hosta beds than actually feeding the birds. 

The reason we got started on this is because I wanted to attract the goldfinches.  They are so pretty in the summer time, and we spend so much time out on the deck that having a few winged friends around seemed like a good idea.

Image courtesy of https://www.publicdomainpictures.net

That worked for awhile, and then I forgot to put the bird seed out for a couple of weeks and they all deserted me.  It's been an uphill battle to entice them back! 

Part of the problem is that there are also pileated woodpeckers that like those flock blocks, and they are fat, messy, bullies who scare the other birds away.  Well, except the sparrows.  Nothing scares sparrows.  The darn woodpeckers irritated me so much I quit putting out birdseed altogether, which sort of defeated the point.

Image courtesy of All About Birds

Recently Captain has taken an interest in luring the woodpeckers back to our feeder.  He bought a special woodpecker-specific flock block, and it worked.  There were several of the creatures outside our window.  Captain was ecstatic.

Here's the deal.  Captain's excitement never fails to suck me into a vortex that I didn't want to be involved in to begin with except I like to see him happy.  So when I saw a woodpecker at the feeder, I jumped up and down and hollered for him to come quick!

And here we are at the point where we stand in the birdseed aisle at Menards and debate which birdseed and/or suet to buy.  Part of the debate centers around cost, because you all know how much angst Captain has with spending an extra (or even a necessary) dime.  Part of the debate centers around which kind of bird we want to attract.

I keep advocating for the finches, but Captain is really campaigning for the woodpeckers and cardinals.  Okay, cardinals are cool.  I get that. I wouldn't mind orioles or blue jays, but I think blue jays are bullies too.  

Okay, okay, okay.  We are going to be bird people.  Now I will become obsessive about it because that's how I roll. 

So I spent a good chunk of the evening on Sunday surfing the web looking at images of "DIY bird feeding stations."  Holy feathered friends, Batman!  If you can imagine it, it can be built. 

In my dreams, I would have something like this:

Image courtesy of Pinterest

...but will probably have something more like this:

Image courtesy of DIY & Crafts

In reality, we will likely have something that falls in the middle.  If I talk sweet enough, I can convince Captain to make something out of metal because he is better with metalworking than woodworking.  

To offset the aforementioned angst in the aisles at Menards over the cost of flock blocks, I got a recipe from a friend to make my own.  The recipe actually instructed to make a wreath form, so that's what I did.  

Yep, epic fail.  I always have great ideas and horrid execution.  The recipe called for sunflower seeds, nuts, and berries; I used goldfinch seed.  Their final result looked like this:

Image courtesy of Simple Solutions Diva

Mine didn't look anything like that!  I foresee a trip to Menards for sunflower seeds!  

Whatever we end up with outside our living room window, metal or wood, thistle seed or sunflower seed, woodpecker or finch will be fine because it gives us an opportunity to enjoy a hobby together while being good stewards to God's creatures.  

Spread your wings and fly today, my friends!