The Birds Are Back In Town

We used to have bird feeders in our yard but stopped when we realized that we were leading them to their deaths with our cats prowling around. While the cats cannot reach the actual feeders, the seeds inevitably end up on the ground and the birds naturally fly down to them and eat them up. Meanwhile, our cats simply lay in wait and pick them off one by one. Like lambs to the slaughter. Consequently, we got rid of the feeders, which is a bummer because we all like birds.

Now that our cats are indoor cats, I thought it would be nice to put the bird feeders up again. We got two of them, and surprisingly they were fairly cheap, i.e., less than $10 each. One of them hangs from a branch while the other has suction cups that you stick to a window. The hanging one works fine, but the suction cups kept failing us, so I asked N, our resident engineer, to modify it and make it a hanging feeder, which he did in about 5 minutes. Granted, it wasn't reinventing the wheel, but it's still cool that he's willing to work on it and get the job done.

It took several days before the birds returned, and I was continually looking out the window for any signs of life. At first a nuthatch or two showed up (one of my favorite birds), and then a bluejay. After a few days the chickadees came, and then it was pretty much a avian party. Now that the birds are back, I'm stoked to see them frolicking about. I'm guessing our cats are just itching to get out there, but that's not going to happen any time soon. We just have to be extra vigilant about keeping them in, not to mention keeping an eye out for squirrels.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.