Wind River wrote:
> RobinArmstrong wrote:
>> DivaMagenta@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
>>
>>> When I was a little girl, my grandmother in Wyoming had a pretty tame
>>> squirrel who lived in the tree next to her porch. He would come down
>>> and take a walnut from her hand.
>>>
>>> My dad even had a bluejay who was so tame he would hop into the house
if
>>> he left the door open for him, and would fly down to eat a walnut out
of
>>> his hand when he was outside!
>>
>>
>> Neat story, Diva. I've become an obsessive birder this year. I have
>> always kept the feeders filled through winter and the beginning of
>> spring (I figure finding a mate and building a nest is difficult
>> enough without having to hunt for food, too!). This May, I saw a bird
>> out on the feeder and didn't recognize the species--had to go get the
>> book to look up this little guy in a tuxedo with a red ascot. He
>> obligingly turned about as I was trying to compare his features with
>> the pictures in the book. Turned out, he was a rose-breasted
>> grosbeak. They don't usually come to feeders, but we in the Midwest
>> had a late frost in April, so the things he was accustomed to eating
>> weren't available. I kept watching all day, and he later showed up
>> with his wife and another male. They were beautiful. The next day, I
>> was at a wild bird specialty shop looking for different kinds of
>> feeders and fill, and we are year-'round feeders now.
>>
>> This summer, our backyard was the place all the parent birds brought
>> their fledglings to eat. I didn't realize the parent birds keep
>> feeding the young even after they know how to fly. We saw cardinals,
>> robins, sparrows and starlings being fed from our feeders--well, okay,
>> the robin was getting worms, but they were our backyard worms! The
>> funniest sight was a mother starling with four babies hopping along
>> behind her, each squawking and flapping its wings while she hurried
>> and chewed up peanuts from the peanut feeder. She would feed one, and
>> the other three would go ballistic. I felt sorry for that poor
>> woman. My kids asked where the father starling was and why he wasn't
>> helping. I bet mother starling wondered that, too! Now, we have four
>> immature starlings that all come to the feeders at the same time,
>> still have their spots--we assume they are the four babies from that
day.
>
> Great story about the starlings, Deb.
>
> I used to rehabilitate wildlife back before I had kids and actually had
> some free time. Starlings were one of my favorites, and I had one that
> refused to be released. I kept him as a "pet" for 15 years. His favorite
> perch was my head. :)
>
> WR
Cardinals are making a huge comeback in MA. I have a feeder outside the
window and the cat just sits their and makes all sorts of noises at them !
Do squirrels look like little vampires to anyone else ? Those prominent
teeth !
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