Friday, June 12, 2020

Goldfinch with a sweet tooth?

This morning all three of the hummingbird feeders and two of the seed feeders were on the ground.  The oriole jelly feeder had a large chip out of it.  Some of the shepherds hooks were askew.   First I refilled one of the hummingbird feeders from the sugar water stash I keep in the refrigerator and rehung it.  Then I made up another batch of sugar water fluid since it takes a little time to cool.  Grabbed my sunflower chips/hearts and refilled the squirrel-proof feeder that was still up on a hanger (I noticed it was getting low on seeds the day before).  Picked up the larger seed feeder from the ground, filled it, and rehung.  Straighten up the shepherds hook that the tray feeder hung from and spread some of the seeds on it.  Next filled the safflower/whole sunflower seed feeder and hung that up again.  Spread a few of those seeds in the tray feeder also.  Got out my tape box and taped the chip back in place in the jelly feeder.  Repositioned the chip to the inside next to the hanger where it was less likely for a bird to grab hold.  Refilled the other two hummingbird feeders w/ the cooled nectar.  The half orange  hadn't been touched nor had the suet feeder.  I straightened all of the hooks and stood back.  Ten hooks but only nine feeders.  What was missing?   The thistle seed feeder - a long cylinder w/ tiny holes allowing birds to get about one seed at a time.  Couldn't find it anywhere.   Pretty sure what animal did the damage.  Then a horrible thought hit me.   That's not the only food this animal goes for.  The tree swallow/bluebird houses have little babies that haven't yet fledged!   I checked quickly out the windows.  Nope.  The houses are still standing.  The parents were already busy this morning coming and going.  Need to nip this night-time foraging in the bud.  Think I'll bring everything in tonight except for one feeder - let the games begin.

1 comment:

The Sandbar said...

Ugh. What a a mess. Is this bear activity? Or deer?

cjb