(no subject)

[pensnest]

A couple of weeks ago I bought some fat balls for birds.

The first one, I hung from the washing line, in the hope that it would not be reachable by squirrels. However, the birds did not seem to notice it was there, so I swapped it to a bush in the vicinity of our dining room, handy to watch through the window. A pair of excited bluetits have found it, and are even prepared to hang on the fat ball while nomming - I have relocated slightly, and fat ball number three (because they are going through it at a great rate) - has a handy side twig available for standing on. There is also an incredibly camouflaged bird which we think must be a sparrow, though it is a bit darker looking than most. And a soldierly robin, who intimidates the blue tits with his extra 2-3g of weight.

I'm hoping a few more birds will figure it out. There are two fat balls left (one of them ended up in pieces on the grass before ever it could be hung up), and I'm contemplating getting a proper feeder now.

Comments

[frausorge]

Sounds like a fun variety of birds to observe, and an appreciative crowd! Win win!

[pensnest]

If I get a bigger feeder, more may come!

[(Anonymous)]

WAtch out for rats. We saw one climbing the hedge and using our fat ball feeder. One had to be impressed, but we'll move it a little bit away from the hedge in future (small birds do love the cover, especially if there are cats around)

[pensnest]

Ew, horrid thought! The hedge is both thick and thin at that point - quite deep, but mostly snowberry bushes with lots of spindly branches, and the ball is suspended from another little tree, so I think it would be a *very* intrepid rat that got up to it. But I do remember that Princess Fluffykins once laid a smallish rat corpse on the bathroom floor for us, how nice, so I will keep a look out.

[turps]

I love watching the birds feed at our feeders. At the moment it's usually sparrows and finches but we also get crows that love the slabs of fat with mealworms included.

Plus, birds make for excellent cat tv :)

[pensnest]

Sable doesn't seem to have noticed the birds - not that she is very often in the dining room, and the windowsills are too full for her to sit on them. She does notice pigeons, but has not (so far) managed to go for one. But I am contemplating getting a nice metal pole with a feeding tray on top...

[ephemera]

Feasting birds sound like an excellent garden addition!

[pensnest]

They are quite fascinating. :-)

[turlough]

Isn't it so much fun watching birds feed?! Here it's the blue tits that rule. Even the much larger great tits make room for them.

[pensnest]

Interesting! The robin definitely intimidated the blue tit out of the way - sat pointedly on a nearby branch and then moved a bit closer, and a bit closer....

[brandywine28]

It's getting to be bird watching season again -- thanks for reminding me! Maybe I should put some bird snacks out on the fire escape or something?

[pensnest]

I am surprised how delighted I am to see the birds nomming their fat balls/filled coconut half-shell/container of mealworms. (Though I must say, a bucket of mealworms looks as though it is moving, and if you tilt them a bit by mistake you are QUITE SURE the mealworms are coming for you. Ew.)

I have roared loudly and effectively at three impertinent squirrels who started helping themselves to the bird fodder. I did not roar at the *rat* that was climbing the bush, I was too busy quivering, but I summoned Beast who poked it with a very long stick so that it fell out of the bush and ran away.

If your fire escape is likely to have rats on it - and I fear it may well be - you may have to think fairly carefully about this!