The relationship beteween paintiing house and garden birds...

[boshoffirene]

The time has come to finally start painting (and fixing up things) inside this gracious old lady I call home. The garden is taking shape (finally), but I am so tired of looking at brown walls. Light grey is the way to go. Anyway! So I have semi-moved into the spare bedroom, working at a small table. It looks out onto the back garden. There are many birds that I watch outside the window in this room that has become my temporary workspace. I decided to get some wild bird seed and a few feeders. HA! You do not have only ONE bird feeder or ONE type of bird feed. There are finer seeds for the smaller birds and then rougher seed for the turtle doves (various species). And of COURSE...there's a nice spot for some seed...oh - and there's another one. Sitting down to carry on working, I realise I have targeted just about every spot in the garden that has a flat rock or surface...now to keep the occasional eye out to see who's visiting. And I REALLY need to get the painting prep work done for the kitchen this evening!

[mtngigi]

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@Irene B wrote:

The time has come to finally start painting (and fixing up things) inside this gracious old lady I call home. The garden is taking shape (finally), but I am so tired of looking at brown walls. Light grey is the way to go. Anyway! So I have semi-moved into the spare bedroom, working at a small table. It looks out onto the back garden. There are many birds that I watch outside the window in this room that has become my temporary workspace. I decided to get some wild bird seed and a few feeders. HA! You do not have only ONE bird feeder or ONE type of bird feed. There are finer seeds for the smaller birds and then rougher seed for the turtle doves (various species). And of COURSE...there's a nice spot for some seed...oh - and there's another one. Sitting down to carry on working, I realise I have targeted just about every spot in the garden that has a flat rock or surface...now to keep the occasional eye out to see who's visiting. And I REALLY need to get the painting prep work done for the kitchen this evening!

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Sounds nice, Irene. Too many bears and deer to hang that many feeders in my yard. It's a miracle when the hummingbird feeder makes it through a summer without have Yogi rip it to shreds.

[mwiggenhorn]

Currently, there is a war going on  in my tiny apartment patio.  The squirrels kept ripping the perches off my feeder so that the seed comes out faster. 

I bought peanuts just for the squirrels.  The blue jays and cardinals have decided that they prefer the peanuts. 

The squirrels have returned to remodelling the bird feeder daily.   I just can't win.

[wendy_writes]

Time to grab your camera, Mary.  So we can all giggle over the war of the species.

[reinierb]

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@Wendy C wrote:

Time to grab your camera, Mary.  So we can all giggle over the war of the species.

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I read somewhere that the US Patent office no longer accepts applications for patents for bird feeders that claim to be squirrel proof. Don't know how true this is though but in my experience with squirrels, it is clear that they can't be beaten by mere humans. 

[kfarnell]

It's easier to move house than argue with squirrels.

A friend of mine had made the mistake of leaving nuts for them for a few days followed by briefly leaving a kitchen window open before going out. She must have been tardy with the nuts, because when she got home they'd managed to get in the kitchen cupboards and help themselves to breakfast cereal. In the process they'd thrown everything they could out of the cupboard, presumably in the belief she was hiding something really exciting. The kitchen looked like a bombsite.

As I was forewarned, when my cat brought a squirrel into the house I was quite stern and insisted it couldn't stay.  In revenge, my cat then brought home a fox cub. That would only have been a slight nuisance had she not taught it to use the catflap. 

[mwiggenhorn]

My mother had a bird feeder on a metal post.  Disgusted with the squirrels, she greased the pole, fixed a cocktail and sat watching them try to get up it.  The next day, she felt guilty and washed the pole off.  Squirrels - 1, Shirley - 0