Feed the Birds

I‘ve always preferred to see birds feeding off natural sources in my garden: flowers, trees, plants—(please click on first photo below to enlarge the photos and to read the rest of this tale🙂

Then, my next brainstorm was that the somewhat leafless plumeria tree next to it would be a great place for a hummingbird feeder. I had one that generous housesitters had bought a few years ago but that I rarely filled, so the first step in this plan was to fill and hang the hummingbird feeder,

then to go buy bird seed for my alternate two ton bird feeder!

Morrie was the first to express interest in the project.

Something in that bag of seed interested him,

and he even offered to help me open the bag.

I scattered the seed and retreated to my desk, hoping to see the first birds descend.

Then there was Morrie,luckily, to join our family, for a few years later, Frida passed away..

First a sniff,

then a taste, during which he brushed a few sunflower seeds off onto the stones of the deck.

then found he had no problem at all reaching the seed up on its original level and soon both seemed to be grazing on bird food!!!

Side view of felon

all too soon, they had exhausted the supply of bird food

as quickly as they had scarfed down their own food fifteen minutes before.

But when I returned to the house, the scavengers returned, hoping I’d left more provender.

Morrie, a stubborn little guy, returned to his former feeding place.

I watched from inside the house as Morrie discovered a new potential source of nourishment–the hummingbird feeder! Luckily, it is just out of his reach, but I doubt any hummingbirds will investigate it too closely with him as watchman.

Not quite the feeding frenzy I had expected to watch. Definitely a new species of bird. The End.

In a nutshell: the little dog stands on his hind legs to examine the high stone slab sculpture for evidence of seeds. I’d put them out the morning before for the birds, thinking the three-foot-high stone sculpture placed 20 feet away, but directly in front of my computer table, would be perfect for observing birds. Wrong! Within ten minutes, every single seed was gone–completely eradicated by the vacuum cleaner tongues of Diego and Morrie. On to the next plan! I try again, after having fed the dogs. This is the result. (If you click on the first photo, you can see the photos in a larger form and read the entire story.)