More Mouths to Feed

It's very, very cold here today and the wind is strong, as it has been all winter. On days like this when most people don't want to be outside, consider the poor birds who still have to go searching for food. They'd probably prefer to stay puffed up in their nests, but they have no choice.



Here are my basic supplies. I have a container of thistle seed for the Finches, suet for the Woodpeckers and mixed seed for everyone else. The sunflower mix is in the garage, so I'll get that the next time I take the dogs out.



The two Finch feeders are in the front corner of the porch. We get a lot of Goldfinches on those feeders and we can watch them from the kitchen. They and their duller Finch relatives visit on a regular basis and seem to come in groups. We'll have six or more on the feeders at a time.Very pretty.



On the side of the deck is a small feeder that attracts mostly Chickadees and Juncos. My pet birds waste a lot of seed, so when I feed them I save what they haven't eaten and put it in this feeder. The wild birds then finish it off. The two large feeders hang from the back deck. I fill them with sunflower seed mix and all the birds seem to like that.



In the winter I put out suet for the bigger birds. We have three sizes of Woodpeckers that visit, along with Jays and some of the smaller birds will also eat the suet. In the hot summer months suet becomes too messy, so the big birds are only served seeds then.



Some birds such as Cardinals and Doves are ground feeders, so I put seed on an old roof shingle on the deck. The terra cotta saucer usually holds water for them to drink or bathe, but in this weather the water freezes so I filled it with seed today, too.



The squirrels are hungry, too. They can be very destructive, chewing through bird feeders or their favorite game of throwing the feeders on the ground, so I spread seed on the rail of the deck for them. That way the lazy fellows can come eat with out getting into trouble.



My birds are in the dining room. Holly can see the outside birds from her cage and gets very excited when she spots a pair of Cardinals that live in the front hedge. She enjoys watching the antics of the dogs and likes to chat with me when I'm working in the kitchen.



Cloud is shy and it was hard to get a picture of her. She likes to hide behind her toys. She's the last survivor of my Budgies and she spends a lot of time talking to Holly who's cage is next to hers.