Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The Mystery of the Bird Feeder

The birds in the back yard have been sparse during the winter and since the episode of the killer hawk. We've missed them.

Lately, some weird things are happening. We noticed a few birds trickling in occasionally so I began watching the feeders and partially filling them. One day the feeder on the right was empty. Hooray! The birds are back!!


After filling the feeder all the way to the top it stayed that way for a number of days, barely changing. Then one morning, EMPTY! This has happened three times now. Obviously we are feeding a rodent of some kind. It sneaks in in the middle of the night and fills it's belly, hardly leaving anything behind on the ground for the hungry doves.

Could be a mouse, maybe a squirrel. A birding friend of ours has suggested it might be a raccoon. I'm skeptical of that explanation.

Three days ago I filled it again. This time I sprayed the pole with cooking spray. Whatever is going up to feast on the bird feed will slide back down. I thought about staying up to watch, hoping to catch a few giggles. Instead I went to bed to catch a few zzzzzs.

$2.75 (includes 100 pennies)

This amount was gathered yesterday in a three hour marathon walk. It felt so freaking wonderful to be outside on a sunny spring morning that I just kept on going.

Also, a special note to bleason, the Money Walker: I hit three Jiffy Lubes. The first one, empty, second one 18 cents, third 34 cents. Thanks for the tip!

1 comment:

bleason said...

3 hour marathon walk, that sounds fun, especially finding all those pennies. Good going on the Jiffy Lube.
MoneyWalker