Spring has sprung. The birds are back and I, for one, could not be happier. The first hummingbird showed up a couple of weeks ago. I happened to be at the kitchen window when he flew up, checked out the winter seed feeder that hangs outside the window, then flew off, backwards. Hummingbirds, incidentally, are the only species of birds that can fly backwards. I immediately mixed up a small amount of hummingbird nectar, put it in the feeder and hung it outside the window in place of the winter seed feeder. Since then, we have been getting a lot of activity, mostly males and a few females, but we are happy to see our little friends again. It seems like the last couple of years they haven’t shown up until later on in June. We thought that they may have figured out it was probably best to avoid Conyers altogether, but thankfully this year that has not been the case.
Last summer we bought a new hummingbird feeder at Ace Hardware. It is a Perky Pet brand, like the one pictured above. They are a little pricey for a hummingbird feeder, around twenty bucks, but well worth it. They are excellent feeders, sturdy and solid, with a red glass globe and a metal base with bee proof feeding ports. We like our honeybees and let our clover grow pretty tall before cutting it so that the bees can collect pollen, but we’re not particularly fond of wasps and yellow jackets taking over our hummingbird feeder. I’ve changed the nectar out once already. I change it once a week and mix the nectar four parts water to one part sugar. The birds seem to like it and that is the ratio recommended by most backyard birding sites.
We have a few other species of birds around our feeders as well. Cardinals are in abundance in our back yard, as are Carolina wrens, chickadees, tufted titmice, brown thrashers, towhees and bluebirds. The bluebirds are actually nesting right now, in one of the four houses mounted on our trees. We also have a variety of finches including goldfinches, house finches and purple finches, along with redwing blackbirds, brown thrashers, eastern towhees, catbirds and mockingbirds.
And, of course, there are the squirrels. I used to be in a full-scale jihad with the squirrels and the weeds in my back yard. After years of fighting them both, I finally realized it was a losing battle and I pretty much gave up. Well, not entirely, at least with the squirrels. A number of years back, Jackie gave me a bird feeder called the Yankee Flipper for my birthday. Made by a company in Connecticut called Droll Yankees, the Yankee Flipper is a long plastic tube with a lid at the top where the seed is poured. There are feeding holes and a round perch at the bottom. The kicker is that the perch is part of a long lasting rechargeable battery-powered motor that operates on weight. The birds don’t weigh enough to trip the motor, but when a squirrel ventures on, the weight activates it and the perch spins suddenly and quickly, slinging the squirrel off. It’s an expensive feeder, but well worth the cost in sheer entertainment value alone. So far this spring, I’ve already seen two squirrels go flying. What’s funny is when one of the more persistent little beggars tries to hang on and is spun around until finally letting go, sailing through the air and then sitting on the ground, dazed and confused before gathering its wits and staggering off.
So, now I am headed out into the yard to fill the feeders, put out fresh suet and thistle socks for the finches. Jackie says I spend more feeding the birds than I do feeding us. I don’t know if I spend quite that much, but I have to keep the birds in the manner to which they have become accustomed. I’ll also put an ear of dried corn for the squirrels. I figure if it distracts them away from the birdseed for even a few minutes, it’s worth it. Yes, I’ve thrown in the towel in the Backyard Squirrel Battle. Except for my secret weapon, the Yankee Flipper. I may be a Georgia boy, but that’s one piece of Yankee ingenuity I’m happy for!