Saturday, May 9, 2009

Dar Dar's Bird Feeder

The last time we were in Colorado visiting the Hannons and the Diazes, we went to a FABULOUS store named Jax. Here is a link http://www.jaxmercantile.com/home.php We wandered about for at least an hour, checking it out, and even then, we didn't see everything. They had everything from baby chicks to beautiful dishes, from camping gear to dark chocolate and homemade salsa. What a store!

Oh. But I digress. Darwin and I stopped for awhile in the bird-feeder section...and found a sock feeder for finches. We had fond memories of finch feeders from Uncle Avard and Aunt Ruth's home in Bountiful back in the day. We're so uninformed about our local birds that we had no idea if hot southern Utah had finches, or not...but since the feeder wasn't very pricey, we thought we'd give it a try.

Darwin put a hook in the front porch overhang when we got home, hung up the fully-loaded sock, and...nothing. We watched in vain all of one afternoon...nada. I looked up finch habitats and found out that YES, we SHOULD have finches this far south. We fretted that maybe we hung the feeder in a bad place...after all, the cat's perch in our kitchen looks out onto the feeder. (We did that on purpose, to watch his chin chatter with excitement when he saw birds cavorting about that he couldn't do a thing about!)


The first finch that found the feeder caused OUR chins to chatter with excitement. "Hey, look! We've GOT one!" Darwin exulted.


And since that very first customer, our clientele has grown by leaps and bounds. I have labored mightily to get pics of the darn birds...but when I would even get CLOSE to the window, away the nervous Nellies would fly. Aaron set up my tripod in the kitchen so I could use the zoom lens and be more discreet...but same problem. Every time I would go to snap away, the birds would zoom off, all a-twitter. I bet I know how a celebrity stalker feels when even his zoom camera won't get the right shot. But you know I will continue to try!!!

I love seeing all the varieties of birds that frequent our little feeder. I love watching them fight with each other. Some bossy-boots birds will nip at the others and flutter at them to chase them away. Now we have so many birds feeding at our lowly little sock that we have to refill it quite often. I fear we've created a whole welfare system for these birds...they've learned that there IS such a thing as a FREE LUNCH!!!

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Now you just need to do time-lapse video of the feeder being drained over time. Just make sure you take a shot every minute until the feeder is empty. Then, convert the photos to video.

Viola!P.S. I really do like your bird photos.

Brooke said...

L,
I LOVE THIS POST!!!! Great pictures...your animated description is the best! I love to laugh...and this post did the trick! I had to go back and read it to my husband, so he would understand the chuckles coming out of me! Keep up the feed the birds program..and your boy Chien (love this btw) has a great idea! Do it please! Happy Mother's Day!

Bean said...

I totally want a bird feeder now. Oliver and Elliott just went crazy seeing the pictures. I have a few birds who come and hang out in the Easter wreath on my front door. I tried to take it down, but my boys got mad.

Amanda Borden said...

I'm thrilled to learn of your blog. thanks for posting it on fb.

Juje said...

I love this! I have to tell my roommate Riana. She'd go nuts.

Becky said...

I love watching the birds. We have to refill our feeder about every 3 days (sometimes more). The birds really do love the free hand out. I'll have to put the pictures of Jared on my blog with the birds. He loves to "feed" them. He stands under the feeder with food in his hand and just waits till they come, and they do come! Funny thing is if anyone else tries it the birds don't come.

Katoolus said...

Great shots Mom! Now you should get a bird bath so you can watch the birds frolick in the water. Also, what about a bird house (although your birds love to build nests on that crazy wire thingy)? We have a family of sparrows in our birdhouse as we speak. The little ones are loudly demanding food all day long. So much fun!

Whitney said...

holy pretty birds :) i love them! I am glad you have a blog. i will have to check it out and see what your up too. if you like to look at blogs you can check mine out at
whitneyclare9.blogspot.com
its not fun but its cool! :)