Hard to believe I ever complained about not having birds at my feeders. I even wrote a column about my woes. This thought crosses my mind as I step onto the deck in this pre-dawn January morning. The moon still shines in a winter sky, but I don’t take the time to admire the beauty. The birds will soon be arriving in hordes, looking for my handouts.
I haven’t finished spreading breadcrumbs and suet chunks on my deck railing before a perky chickadee plops down and begins feeding. As I re-enter my house, two ravens watch from high in nearby birch trees, and a brazen little nuthatch buzzes my head as it heads for the suet. A woodpecker hammers away at the suet cage.
I make a mental note to cook up another batch of “Chirp Suet” – a bird food recipe sent to me by a South Shore neighbor. It’s a conglomeration of peanut butter, lard, cornmeal, and oatmeal, and the birds love it.
I traipse inside, scoop up two coffee cans of sunflower seeds, head out the front door and down the stairs to feed the flock of pine grosbeaks waiting quietly in the overhead tree branches watching.
Just as I reach the bottom step, something brown and furry leaps in front of my foot. I jump. It jumps and runs away. It’s the dang red squirrel that’s made its home under my deck. Luckily, I don’t sprain an ankle or squish the little creature, so I continue my mission.
As I throw out swaths of black sunflower seeds, I marvel at the speed at which the bird world spreads the message that “breakfast” is being served. Almost immediately a flock of blue jays joins the pine grosbeaks. A lone redpoll and several pine siskins join this fracas, and soon a horde of chickadees and a most endearing gang of nuthatches are all feeding.
I’ve also been lucky enough to entice one whiskey jack who joins the crowds and will also sit on my deck rail and wait for food.
Satisfied that my early morning feeding chores are finished, I re-enter my house, pour myself a cup of coffee and wonder if Daphne the fox will appear today. This creature with black feet, black-tipped ears, and a beautiful red coat has put me on her feeding circuit.
Daphne is wary but likes to check out the food situation at my back door where she chomps down bread and suet chunks that have fallen off of the deck. Before I sit down for my coffee, I take one more look out the kitchen window, but the wary little fox is nowhere to be seen.
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