A place where I can share interesting ideas and maybe get a few things off my chest

Posts tagged ‘window’

I’m Looking At….*

Original photo by author, 12.28.25

I’m looking at the double shepherd’s crook out my home office window. On one side is the seed feeder that I just refilled. It has been empty for several days, so I may not see any birds as I’m sitting here, but I know the chickadees will be back by tomorrow morning. On the other side hangs a tray feeder holding a handful of peanuts that have been languishing there for over a week, since the last time I filled the seed hopper.

In my Florida backyard, I had blue jays, cardinals, woodpeckers, and tufted titmice all vying for the peanuts I put out every couple of days, along with a bevy of Carolina chickadees and the occasional young crow or two or three. As the squirrel baffle attached to the shepherd’s hook was quite successful in baffling the squirrels, my Florida backyard also had a platform feeder tall enough to baffle the dogs, but give the squirrels a chance at a few peanuts, too. I hope the new owners (whomever they might turn out to be) appreciate the big picture window (the only thing I truly miss about Florida) and the platform feeder too firmly planted in the ground to move with us to Texas.

I have seen nary a blue jay at the feeders since our move to our new home in a small, rural Texas town, nor a mockingbird, and only a few cardinals. There are some very wary crows who frequent the yard for acorns, but they are shyer and much more skittish than their suburban Florida counterparts, and do not approach the feeders at all. I’m still scoping out areas in the yard for the hummingbird feeder, which won’t go back out until March, and the bird bath that is still waiting patiently with the potted plants pulled from our Florida landscape, now wintering over in the sheltered space of the garage.

*This brief essay is a result of the first writing prompt in Natalie Goldberg’s “Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir”

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Going To The Birds

Over the past year (or longer–time is always a little wibbly-wobbly for me, totally unrelated to current circumstances), I’ve read about how intelligent crows are and how people make friends with them and then the crows bring them bright-and-shiny presents.

I decided I want to make friends with crows so they can bring me bright-and-shiny presents.

I told Steve I wanted some kind of feeding platform in front of my writing window, so I would be able to see the crows when they come to eat the peanuts that I read would lure them. He kindly obliged.

Waiting for the crows

We did not get crows, but we did have blue jays visit.

Blue jays and crows are both corvids.

And squirrels.

Squirrels are not corvids. They are also very pushy.

What I didn’t consider was how interested Gracie would be in the peanuts. I thought she was just guarding the backyard from the squirrel invaders, until I saw her eating off the board when she thought I wasn’t looking.

Also not a corvid. Also very pushy.

Obviously, an alternate strategy was called for. So, I bought a hanging feeder.

Small dogs cannot reach this. Squirrels had no problem.

Steve dismantled the low platform, found the shepherd’s hook, and we were good to go. Except the birds stopped visiting. Back to the drawing board.

After some engineering and hard work on Steve’s part, we now have a new feeding platform.

New and improved!

Within a couple of days, we started having visitors!

A pair of titmouses – not corvids, but very cute.

This titmouse pair are now regulars at the feeder. I put out about ten peanuts when I first sit down for Morning Pages, and they almost always show up before I’m done.

This morning was especially exciting, because the jays have finally returned! Not only that, but in addition to my titmouses and the jays, a woodpecker stopped by, and I saw a cardinal pair watching the goings-on from across the yard. I may have to start buying more peanuts.

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