Taking Care of the Birds

In a previous post, I spoke about how Tomato and I love to watch the birds at our house. We put up a window mounted feeder and filled it with our homegrown organic sunflower seeds. The birds and squirrels were quick to empty it, but I was not as quick to fill it. Sometimes when an activity or part of the day is new, I have trouble making it a habit, and filling the bird feeders has been one of those things that I am working to establish as an automatic part of our week. I bought thistle and Bird Lover’s Blend Cardinal Buffet at Whole Foods. But, until yesterday, we did not get around to cleaning out the feeder and refilling it. So, now we are set for any finches that would like to come our way to get some great thistle.

In addition to cleaning out and refilling the feeders, we took some time to clean out the bird houses. Now is the best time to do this, since some birds will begin to look for new nesting homes in the coming weeks. I hadn’t cleaned out the houses in the last few years that we have lived here, so I enlisted the help of my mom to do them in the most efficient manner. We have three bird houses in the big tree. These two snap open for easy cleaning.

Whereas this one remains a mystery to us, so we just left last year’s nest in there for now.

My mom’s tips for cleaning them out were great ones. First, wear gloves. Who knows what you will be cleaning out and there is no need to touch it with your bare hands. Secondly, try to attach a trash bag to a nearby branch so that whatever you do clean out falls directly into the bag. It makes for a lot less mess.

So, after pulling all of the old nests, we snapped the houses back into their latches, patched the back of one with a little duct tape since it had split and voila!

All set for new tenants this spring!

Our last avian addition to the yard was a bird bath that I had requested for Christmas. I love the simplicity of it. It’s a low price for a bird bath and of course it hails from my favorite catalog, Gardeners Supply. It holds about two cups of water, which Tomato and I will gladly add each day and sits perfectly in front of the azaleas for now. I may have to find a more permanent spot for it later this spring or summer, but for now we can see it from the window. I can’t wait to see which birds stop by for a drink or a quick rinse.