Birdfeeder blow-out

So my last blog was a while ago, probably a week and a half ago. At that point our birdfeeder was knocked down by a nasty squirrel and I didn't want to put it back up and have it happen again. Also, our suet feeder was knocked down and I ended up leaving it empty. The end result was about 5 days where we didn't have anything out for the birds (or squirrels...)

So eventually I went to wal-mart and bought a pretty cool anti-squirrel bird feeder. After I put it up and filled the suet feeder I expected to see birds pretty quickly, but it's been tough going.

I didn't see any that night. I saw one the next morning and one or two more throughout the day. Things were looking glum.

Eventually the birds noticed the suet and started coming back, but even now - a week later - I don't have as many as I did with the other feeder. Sometimes I would have up to 10 cowbirds (and once or twice, bluejays) out at the feeder. There were days when I would fill it up and all the seed would be gone by the next day.

So things aren't quite like they used to be. I have noticed most of the usual birds, the cowbirds, the sparrows, the other ones I can't seem to identify for the life of me. I just started seeing male and female cardinals the last day or two. The downy woodpeckers came back. Even the doves came back!

But my precious gold bellied woodpeckers didn't. They were so beautiful and my favorite! I'm still holding out for them - hoping that they come back, but I don't know.

In general, the birds seem to flock to the suet and they don't really notice the seed feeder. Only a few of the sparrows and other unidentifiable birds have actually fed off of the new feeder.

I did see a squirrel.

He seemed so anxious that he didn't even come up to the feeders. I don't seem to have a squirrel problem any more, but I'm awaiting the day that they are brave enough to try the seed feeder.

The seed feeder claims to be squirrel-proof becaues it has a wire cage sort of thing around the whole feeder. When any animal that weighs alot (lets say, squirrel weight) sits on the cage, it lowers and closes the feeding hole. The weight is adjustable and uses a spring...I think it'll work okay, as long as the squirrels don't figure out how to stand on the deck and eat seed without putting their weight on the feeder.

We'll see!

Oh - tomato update. They look fine! Except for plant #1 officially died. After a big rainfall it completely vanished. I think the part of the plant that came out of the ground was so frail that it couldn't hold up the rest of the plant and fell to the ground. The others all have nice green tomatos that look yummy!