I'm running a load of natured based/themed activities at a church family weekend in a few days. One of them is to make bird feeders out of empty water bottles. It seemed like a fun activity until I asked people to save their empty single use plastic bottles for me. I thought most people were like us and we'd get just about enough bottles - nope - swimming in them. Have you ever made a bird feeder? Do you have any birdfeeders in your garden? What kind do you have? Do you take photos of birds at your feeder(s) ? Have you created any scrapbooking pages about them?
My grandson’s Cub Scout den made pine cone bird feeders one fall. Boys were about 7-8 years old. They spread peanut butter on the pine cones, rolled them in bird seed, then hung the pine cone bird feeders on the trees in the church yard. And yes, I did take photos of the activity and scrapped them.
Have you ever made a bird feeder? Not that I remember. Do you have any bird feeders in your garden? No but I wish we did! I love seeing photos of the birds at feeders on scrap pages here.
Have you ever made a bird feeder? Yes Do you have any birdfeeders in your garden? Not any more What kind do you have? did - open ones on poles Do you take photos of birds at your feeder(s) ? I now take photos of them in my backyard Have you created any scrapbooking pages about them? yes, many Growing up, my mother was a member of our local Audubon Society. We had bird feeders, bird houses etc in our yard, and her friends would ban birds at the local beaches and bring the birds over to the house before releasing again, so my mom could photograph them. We also would go on field trips, and an annual trip to Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania in October to see the hawks and eagles. Mom was the newsletter editor for YEARS of the local Audubon Chapter, and then became president of the local chapter. Mom was friends with all the local Bird artists... Arthur Singer the bird artist who illustrated the Birds of North America book, and illustrated the US Bird & Flower stamps with his son, was my Mom's best friend. Arthur came to our house for dinner often and when my parents moved to Florida, Arthur and his wife visited them, painting a watercolor of our Great Blue Heron who posed for him. I have that (since my parents are both passed now, as well as Arthur) hanging in my home. I was in 2nd grade when my Mother taught my class about birds and again in 5th grade, and she often gave talks to all of the local schools. Now I watch birds in my yard, as my brother does too, and we share the birds we see, always remembering my Mom.
Have you ever made a bird feeder? I don't think so. But I did recently make some bird houses for our backyard. Do you have any birdfeeders in your garden? Not anymore, but we used to have about 4 of them. The cost of bird seed was so high though! What kind do you have? We had one for sunflower seeds and then a thistle seed feeder for the gold finches. My hubby also had a hummingbird feeder for awhile, but you have to be really careful to change the contents in those often or you can make the birds sick. Do you take photos of birds at your feeder(s) ? I took tons of pictures of the birds when we had the feeders. We had them close to a couple of our big picture windows and I love watching the birds! Have you created any scrapbooking pages about them? This isn't about feeders, but about the birdhouses I built:
I've never made a bird feeder, or even put up a purchased one, but it's something I'd like to do someday. I mostly admire birds while on walks/hikes. I joke that they recognize a camera and hate being photographed, because I just raise up my camera and the bird flies away.
Have you ever made a bird feeder? I made one years ago and have no idea what ever happened to it. Do you have any birdfeeders in your garden? What kind do you have? I have 2 hummingbird feeders. I don't keep more because the cat stalks them. Do you take photos of birds at your feeder(s) ? I sometimes get a photo of the hummingbirds, but everything has to be super quiet. For Christmas 2022, I bought my daughter one of these: She loved it and said her phone would go off all day long with alerts about birds at the feeder and she would watch them from work. They have since moved and I keep forgetting to ask her if she put it up at the new house. Have you created any scrapbooking pages about them? I don't think I have, but I've probably included a photo or two of them in my weekly spreads.
So not so fun story. We used to throw our indoor birds (pets) old bird seed on the grass out the back of our house (it's changed out daily), we're not precious about the lawn, so it would sprout, grow millet sprigs etc, we'd bring them in and give them to our birds as enrichment etc. However the local birds during a long bout of rainy days a few years back must have observed this and started hanging out on our fence and clothes line waiting for us to do this and would then come in and 'forage' (have a feast). The they started waiting closer and closer to the house to the point that they're be at the kitchen window and pecking on the glass door near the dining table anytime they wanted food. Wasn't really a problem, we had more than enough old/spare seed and we thought it may mean they spare the blackberries etc that they also enjoy from our backyard. Fast forward to one point, early this year, somehow, I got bird lice/mites and all the itchy scratchy fun that goes with it. It's much like bedbugs and DD had been away and I'd washed her garbage bag of clothes from the trip and thought she must have bought home bedbugs because I started having itchy hands and arms after a few days of laundry. DH became a google-taught expert in Entomology and identifying bugs and bug bites. I ended up catching 2 in a jar at one point from our bed and those things survived in that jar with no food or anything for 3 weeks and even after washing the bedding in 60 degree cycle, we saw moving bugs on the linen when we went to hang it out. They were so hard to actually see, i was using a magnifying glass and the torch on my phone every night and morning on the bed and showering so often. They were almost impossible to get rid of and seemed resistant to everything. Best we could figure is somehow they went from the birds to the clothes line to my hands or from the ground, up my exposed feet (thongs/flipflops) and they are not picky when they do not have a bird host anymore, they'll bite/feed on dogs, humans, whatever and it took a few months of treatment, including all the bedding and clothing and other people in the house - absolute nightmare - i was so worried about our pet birds becoming a host for one and that we'd never get rid of them and it's no fun for the bird host either; so that is the story of why we no longer feed the neighbourhood birds. BUt we still have native trees for them to feed from and still have water and birds baths out for them but they still remember when it rains that we put seed out and will come visit at the window and tap on the glass but i have like PTSD about it all now so they have to make do with the actual trees (and our fruit trees)
They run rampant in spring apparently and prey on flightless baby birds. When they leave the nest the bugs go looking for other hosts but can't survive too long ( supposedly )without a bird host to finish their lifecycle - it's one of those trivia things I know now that I wish I never knew! And makes me start scratching just thinking about it!
