Bird Feeder

[Jeff Higgins]

I bought a bird feeder. I hung it in a tree next to my back deck and filled it with seed. Within a week we had dozens of birds coming to our feeder. We put up more, with different varieties of feed; even a humingbird feeder. It made us feel good to be feeding them; to have them in our yard for our enjoyment.

But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the deck, above the table, and next to the barbecue. Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the deck, the chairs, the table... everywhere. Then some of the birds turned mean. They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even as I was trying to refill the very feeder that had attracted them. And others birds were boisterous and loud. They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food. They didn't seem to know how to find their own food anymore. They had become totally dependant upon us feeding them.

After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back deck anymore. I took down the bird feeder and in about a week the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the deck and in the surrounding trees. Soon, the back yard was like it used to be...quiet, serene; they had either moved on to the next house with a bird feeder, or had re-learned how to feed themselves. Never again...

[Rot 911]

There's a lesson to be learned somewhere in all of this and I suspect it has something to do with we should never have allowed Bush to steal the election.

[KFC911]

It's those damn liberal birds and Higgins' welfare system that's the root cause of all our problems...

[Joeaksa]

Yep, its all Bush's fault. He personally taught the birds how to do this...

I have a feeder in my yard and put food in it from time to time. When I kept it full I had the same thing that Jeff did so stopped. The birds come and go at my house and thats fine.

Have a covey of Doves in the back yard and they are easy to get along with but the others are not welcome when they start making noise wanting food.

[dhoward]

And as we all know, that wouldn't be a covey, but a piteousness of doves

[the]

A good example of "No good deed goes unpunished."

[Moses]

I thought this was going to be a parable about "the welfare state". Maybe it is.

[on-ramp]

Jeff, put the bird feeder somewhere away from your house... so you dont have all these issues. we've had a bird feeder for 3 years with no problems.

would you throw out your cat or dog and say "go find your own food, you'll be better that way"?

[dhoward]

Mine would probably eat better, relying primarily on a 14 year-old....

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally posted by on-ramp
would you throw out your cat or dog and say "go find your own food, you'll be better that way"?

I did that to my cat about 25 years ago. I wonder how he's doing.

[Aerkuld]

I know a guy who managed to convince his wife that woodpeckers must have been attacking their wooden birdfeeder.
She had already seen the squirrels that were attracted by it and so had he...







...looking down his shotgun.

[john70t]

Sparrows (actually Common English House Finches, I believe, is the proper description) still plagues mine.
They, and Starlings, are non-native species from the early 20th century.

Dang little buggers arrive in swarms of a hundred it seems, drive off all other birds in the area with loud repeated "cheap, cheap" and proceed to empty half the contents of the feeder onto the ground while looking for the little tan seeds.

Used to live on a lake, and had a great Purple Martin house out front. Those sparrows would chase the Martins away, and I one day I found 4 Martin eggs on the ground/water. It took a good 2 months of cleaning out their nests weekly, trapping about 4, and nailing 2 with the BB gun before they finally took the hint that they weren't welcome.
When I walked out the door, the Martins would start singing and flock back to the house knowing what was next.

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by on-ramp
Jeff, put the bird feeder somewhere away from your house... so you dont have all these issues. we've had a bird feeder for 3 years with no problems.

would you throw out your cat or dog and say "go find your own food, you'll be better that way"?

A dog or cat is a family pet. Wild birds are not.

Edited - personal attack removed. -Z-man.

[Jeff Higgins]

Moses is the only one who got it. I could give a ***** about the birds in my yard; I have half a dozen feeders place well away from the house and always have had.

[slakjaw]

My mother has a bird feeder but her cat keeps them from sticking around too long.

[slakjaw]

Originally posted by john70t
Sparrows (actually Common English House Finches, I believe, is the proper description) still plagues mine.
They, and Starlings, are non-native species from the early 20th century.

The story of how they got here is very interesting.