Weeds

Whenever I weeded my flower beds or even my flowerpots, I always found a multitude of seedlings of one certain kind. I didn't know what sort of weed it was, but it seemed prolific and very vigorous. It had one or two pairs of leaves atop a long stalk and a pretty good sized root for a young seedling. They were under my azaleas, in the tomato patch, in flower pots on the patio and by the driveway, even among the evergreens. They didn't seem picky about the amount of sunlight or water, and every specimen I pulled up was thriving. I wondered if other people had trouble with these weeds. Were the seeds scattered by the wind? What were they, anyway?

Finally, I pulled one out of a flowerpot that had a recognizable remnant of the seed casing still clinging to the roots and all was revealed. They were sunflower sprouts. The squirrels weren't just eating the seeds from the bird feeders, they were burying them too, and the seeds were germinating.
If you want to grow sunflowers, I can hook you up with some squirrels that are excellent horticulturists.

A slight design flaw

I bought this bird feeder to replace one that had been chewed apart by the squirrels. It is a supposedly squirrel-proof model. The outer cage is atttached by two springs and "floats" over the inner tube. The cage has metal leaf shapes and it can be pushed down by extending the springs until the openings are covered by the leaves. If a lightweight bird lands on the perches, nothing happens, but if a heavier squirrel hangs on the outer cage, its weight is supposed to stretch the springs and pull the cage down to block access to the seeds. Well, that's how it's supposed to work. The problem is, the springs are so stiff and strong that my squirrels don't weigh enough to activate the squirrel-proof function. Maybe if they steal enough seeds, they will gain weight, and then. . .

Avian Subsidy Program

I like birds. Always have. I have had pet birds (don't right now because of the feline queen of the house -- she's an indoor only cat and locking up one excitable heavy-on-the-hunting-instincts cat with a poor terrified caged bird 24/7 doesn't seem fair for either of them). So, I feed outdoor birds and create the all-birds-all-the-time channel outside the sliding door for the cat and myself. In our house, each window is a different cat-TV channel for her to watch. The chipmunk channel is out front. Danger-speeding-cars is on the bedroom window.

This bird-feeding stuff is great in theory but the suckers are eating me out of house and home. If I've let the feeders run out, the chickadees will sit in the top of the dogwoods and cuss me out while I fill them. Of course, the chipmunks and the gray squirrels are contributing to the speedy depletion of seeds, but the birds do plenty of damage. Especially the mourning doves. I must have 20,000 living in my trees alone. And the goofy things can't find a better place to nest than the grapevine wreaths on the front and back porches. I had three nests this year. But that's another post.

Anyway, all the birds in bird-dom are out back gorging on free seeds. Well, they're seed-eaters, that's the plan. But along come the woodpeckers, and that's where I get cranky. These are bug-eating birds, darn it. So why are they eating my expensive black oil sunflower seeds? Because they're lazy, that's why. Nature loves a mooching opportunity. And not just on the feeders. I had a red-headed woodpecker wolf down half a suet cake in one sitting. But what can I do?

For now, I just suffer the cost and keep filling the feeders. But, the more I feed, the pushier they get. This morning, I looked out the bedroom window to see a downy woodpecker clinging to the side of the window and industriously pecking on my brick house. Was this a protest action? A couple of the feeders are empty. I better get out there before the natives get restless.