June Journal – Battle of the Birds

 I used to feed the birds only in the winter and have a bird bath in my back yard in the summer.

The last few years I’ve fed the birds in the summer too and had two bird baths. I thought feeding the birds in the summer might keep them away from my strawberries and Saskatoon berries. That didn’t work.

But I kept up the feeding in the summer and the bird baths because I enjoyed watching my little feathered friends play. They did get into my Swiss chard before it could grow enough for me to eat, and they got some of my lettuce. I put up with all that. I sometimes spread netting (I put some over my strawberries this year) and that helped. I also grew Swiss chard in a pot this year so I could eat some.

This Thursday I visited Wild Birds Unlimited to check out their heated bird baths (very expensive) for winter (decided to give those a miss for now), and to buy a couple of different seed and insect bells to treat my birds.

I had run out of bagged bird seed and put up one of the seed bells. The birds couldn’t find it and on Friday evening, in their feeding frenzy they attacked my human garden edibles with a vengeance! They even started eating the rhubarb leaves, which are toxic in quantity! One little bird got stuck in the netting I’d put up to protect some spinach. I managed to free it. I noticed a bird feather stuck to my pot of basil on my deck and a couple of the plants were eaten.

I had never found HItchock’s movie ‘The Birds’ scary, but Friday evening I identified with it!

I got so annoyed that I removed one of my bird baths and started thinking about stopping feeding the birds in summer. I would (if they could find it) let them finish off the seed bell and then I’d stop feeding them until late fall. I might even remove my last bird bath I thought.

Saturday morning I woke up with the thought that I could move seed bell and bird bath to my front perennial garden – no human food there for them to decimate.

I’ve done that and have also watered there in hopes of attracting the birds to extra water that may lead them to the new bird bath location and the hanging seed bell nearby. Maybe they will stay out of my back yard.

I may also put wind chimes into my back yard Saskatoon bush because I’ve heard they don’t like the sound and also don’t like sunlight flashing off shiny things.

Though by Sunday they still hadn’t found the new location, I hope the birds will eventually find it and like the new location for the bird bath and feeding station. I do like watching them and can do that out my front window.

Other friends have found this a bad year for birds – I wonder if there’s less other food because the weather has been so dry?

I’m thinking of putting out some loose seeds in one of my feeders at the front it they don’t find the bell soon.

The battle of the birds and human many continue.