Bird Watching…
May 3rd, 2007 Posted in This n ThatWho knew it could be so fun?
As part of our “settling into” our new house (which btw isn’t so new anymore, dare I say we’re coming up on our one year anniversary here this summer) we purchased a bird feeder while back. The squirrels have been reeking havoc on the poor feeder and I really wanted a bird bath so we decided to visit a Wild Birds Unlimited store nearby.
OH MY GOSH, I was so enthralled. We purchased a pole system that you can expand upon AND a “squirrel baffler” that keeps the squirrels out/off. I wanted everything in the store from butterfly houses to bird houses and more.
We ended up with the pole system, a hummingbird feeder, some “good” bird seed (though not marked is organic) AND a cool bird bath. Can I tell you that we’ve had a bird feeder out for months and we were seeing only some chicadees and an occasional cardinal. The day I changed the seed to the Wild Birds Unlimited seed…THE DAY, we saw the most amazing assortment of birds. The cardinal couples keep coming, some goldfinch couples, blue buntings, wood peckers, bluebirds and last weekend I saw a bird I had to look up because it wasn’t in my “common birds you see in NC” book; it is a blue grosbeak and its mate and they’ve been here daily since. There’s another couple we’re trying to identify.
Unfortunately, I saw a black snake hanging out under the feeder too. We’re going back for Mother’s day to expand our pole set and talk with the owner about our choices and learn about avoiding snakes. It was such an educational visit and he was so friendly that I can’t wait to go back and learn more. 
The kids are loving it and we’re all fighting over the binoculars.