Finding Joy in Snarkville

In another life, when we lived in Frankenhouse, we thought we had wildlife around.  We lived next door to chickens (who visited), we had birds a plenty in our yard (including a nesting hummingbird), we saw wild turkeys strut down the street, we saw deer so often that Prince ceased to share my joy in seeing deer (my thrill never ended). And of course we had our own zoo too.

Then we moved to Mid-Snark.  I don’t think that when Wild Kingdom was filmed they ever considered coming to Mid-Snark.  I know that this is not at all like New York City where the only wild life exists on the Upper East Side and in the Meat Packing District.  But I digress.  This is just not an area I thought I’d be seeing a ton of wild life.

When we moved in, we saw a single chipmunk in the yard.  I’ve not seen him again (though I think he relocated to my neighbor’s yard).  When my neighbors moved in, I met them as they were having a FAMILY of raccoons removed from their chimney.  (Yes, I’m serious — I don’t know how they sleep at night — but they had a mom racoon and her brood of 5 babies in their house — ICK.  I am glad they are made of stronger stuff than me — because I like them.

I saw deer from my window and took a photo of it.  I’ve seen them often but my neighbor has not — which I find funny and she thinks I’m making deer up.

So, finally, about a week or two ago, we hung up a bird feeder.  I had been driving through the neighborhood and saw American Goldfinches flying about — they are a sight.  So, we decided to feed them.  It took two days and the feeders were found and we took delights in the wildlife coming by to visit.  (No, I still have no idea what I’m looking at — but I’m slowly figuring it out.)  Then on Saturday, we noticed that there were a pair of squirels who found the feeders too.

These two absolutely PIGGED out.  I glanced out at one point and saw one swinging from the big feeder with his head completely in the feeder.  So, Prince and I decided it was off to find a solution to feed birds not squirrels.  I do have a strict no rodent policy in my feedings.

We went to a bird feeding store and got a ton of advice.  I do mean a ton!  We picked up the right things to make the squirrels mad and move along and the right food to attract the right birds.  We were also told to move our feeder from the tree — which I did.

Twenty minutes of work we loaded a total of four feeders (feeding different things), put together a new pole, and we waited.  Then…then… we began to see something.  (Can you find it?)

Then *MY* finches visited — they have been back a few times and I just KNOW that they are mine.

But, while protecting our seed from rodent, we weren’t ready for this little problem.

The good news is (Mum, take note) this animal is *NOT* mine.  The bad news is that he ran off before I could explain to him that I was not baiting traps of birds for HIM.  He will need to know the rules of this yard — perhaps the deer can explain it.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 17th, 2009 at 9:09 am and is filed under A House to a Home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.