Birdie Buffet update:
--
I spent time off and on all day playing with the squirrels and especially the Jays. They keep me entertained and laughing and I kinda think they are playing with me, too.
Ms Pretty Bird has a new game: She wants me to give her three filberts, now that she’s got me trained to give her two at a time. But she can only carry two, one in her throat and one in her beak. Sometimes she can manage three but it’s really a stretch, they have to be very small.
But she wants the “opportunity” or the “possibility,” or she just likes to demonstrate her power over me. 😂. So, she grabs my first offer and drops it discreetly inside the planter she likes to sit on, across from the kitchen door, and then looks at me like “What filbert? Did you see a filbert? I don’t see any filbert around here! Give me one, now!”
So, I give her a filbert, and she kinda gulps it down then gives me her look that says, good job, now where’s the other one? And I toss her a third one.
Now she’s happy, usually, and flies off, knowing she’s already got one stashed. Sometimes she isn’t pleased with the filbert I toss and she will reject it without even touching it, evidently based on the sound it makes when I drop it on the patio cement.
I make a point of picking up her rejects and opening them and most of the time she is right: the filbert is hollow, empty, no nutmeat inside. Never doubt a Jay, when it comes to nuts.
She’s so sure of herself and her powers over me that now she’s fluffing up the instant she lands on the planter, and gives her whole body a big shake. It’s her “Bring it” move. 😂
The rest of her flock hangs around and tries to get in on our relationship, but she doesn’t appreciate that. Arguments sometimes ensue. Jumping around and harsh language, too.
But I toss them peanuts and they’re happy to grab them and let her be. At least one of them has watched her schtick enough to have learned that tapping on my kitchen window will bring me outside, so now I’ve got at least two Jays tapping for nuts. 😄
Today, I also had two grown rabbits playing with each other in my backyard, chasing and hopping around and staring at each other. I have not seen any baby rabbits in a long time but maybe that’s next. One of the rabbits is possibly the same Mr Rabbit who’s always spent a lot of time here, especially under the big camellia bush, and today he mosied through the big rhododendron bush right next to the patio and to the spot of ground where I have been tossing sunflower hearts for Mr Towhee and the ground feeding birds for a few years now. I think he knew exactly what he was doing and didn’t find that spot by accident. He spent quite a bit of time hoovering up sunflower hearts from that spot.
I am happy that he’s figured it out because I have always wanted to treat him, too.
Three of the four baby squirrels have decided that I am okay, and come right up to me for peanuts or will come towards me if they are on the patio table and I hold out a peanut to them. One still is unconvinced and I just toss him a peanut from a bit of a distance.
I talk to all of these little pals and sing to Ms Pretty Bird because she seems to like it.
I kinda hope nobody’s overhearing me but whatever. I greet the squirrels and tell them good morning, ask how they are doing, would they like a peanut — if they don’t want a peanut, I ask how about a filbert and I try to remember that Curley only wants walnut pieces. I don’t know how that evolved but she’s very firm about it.
Generally, most of the time I save the walnut pieces for squirrels who have some health issues, for instance Lefty has a bad left back leg and is crippled, Bobby has been really beat up and is missing 3/4 of his tail and one ear is gone, and when he first visited here he was in bad shape. Both of them have improved quite a bit from their walnut treatment.
Sam is still visiting, some days more trips than others, but always up on my window sill, standing up and waving arms in the air to catch my eye. Sam wants two of whatever: Two peanuts, two filberts or two walnut halves.
Believe me, these squirrels come by with something in mind. 🤣
Yesterday, I wanted to tell you about a pair of Chickadee parents who brought two of their fledglings to the patio table so they could feed them some of the ground up peanuts that I make every day for the tiny Bewick’s Wrens. It was so fun to see them feeding their kids and eventually the kids started pecking at the peanut morsels. Everybody here likes that recipe. I have to make more several times a day to be sure the Wrens get some!
By now you’re probably getting a pretty good idea of why I don’t miss having a TV.
🙃
