In the unbearable bear post earlier in the week, I mentioned the bird-feeding board just outside the barn - the one that the bear had torn down, even though there wasn't a speck of food left on it for him to eat. I guess it still smelled like birds, seeds and maybe even squirrels and chipmunks.
Here are a couple of the visitors to the board. In this instance, we have a downy woodpecker and a chickadee.
Well, really, a couple of chickadees. They swoop in, grab a seed or
peanut and fly off to hide it or eat it before coming back for another,
so it's more like a flying parade than a single chickadee visitor. We
have a piebald chickadee that's very distinctive and is almost always
the first to come claim a snack (before coming back several times for
more).
The birds make short work of cleaning up the board every time we put something on it and they're so enthusiastic about their handouts during the winter months that we have to make sure to close the door on our way into the barn so they don't follow us and get trapped as we gather treats for them. They don't seem to understand how to follow us out back out nearly as well.
Some of the birds who visit the banquet board have posed as carving subjects for me. You may have even received one on your Stampeaz invoice. :)
5 comments:
ok, not feeling very smart......
what is a bird board?
thanks,
sheila
Hi, Sheila!
The bird board is the wooden board we use as a shelf for feeding the birds. It's the thing that's covered with sunflower seeds in the picture. I guess that the thing the birds are sitting on might look like a branch in the photos, but it's really a board that's about 3 feet long and about 6 inches wide. Sorry for the confusion. :)
Ok, so do you hang it on a fence?? What is the advantage of a board? Or is it just another kind of platform feeder? Do you have to put it in a sheltered area to keep the wind from blowing off the seed?
Thanks for educating me ;j
Sheila
Hi, Sheila!
No, it's not hanging. We used to have it wedged into the crooks in the tree with a broom handle set up so the turkeys couldn't get up on it and knock it down. Since the bear started tearing it out of its spot, my brother screwed it in. It's not sheltered by anything but the tree and it is just a simple platform feeder - just a simple rough sawn board stuck in a tree. The wind doesn't have much of a chance to blow anything away, since the birds empty it within minutes of getting a handout. So that's all it is. Nothing particularly educational about it. :)
👍🏻
Sheila
Post a Comment