Now, the feeders at WBU are not cheap, but they do come with a lifetime guarantee, so if they break, or a raccoon eats them, they will replace them.
I always get carried away at WBU. Oops! Did I say "I"? UM...I meant, the person who had to replace the feeder out of a sense of guilt tends to get carried away in the WBU shop. Said person not only got a new feeder, but also a new feeder pole system, complete with bird finial and an extra hook for adding a suet feeder later in the season.
It didn't take long for the birds to come in for goodies:
Lots of red-breasted nuthatches were darting about, grabbing seeds.
But the little buggers are so nervous that it was well-nigh impossible to get a photo of them that wasn't all blurry!Another visitor came along, eager to score some sunflower seeds, only to pull up short when it spotted me.
Well, my presence couldn't go unremarked.
Here's the wind-up:
And the pitch:
I was soundly scolded and let know on no uncertain terms that I was in the way and if I knew what was good for me I would vacate the area ASAP.
Wow! That is SOME feeder system! I bet a raccoon would make short work of it, though, and have fun swinging from the arm. We used to have raccoons try to pry our garbage cans open, and when all else failed, they pushed them off the porch to the sidewalk, where the frozen plastic cans split open and the coons could feast to their hearts' content.
ReplyDeleteI love the red squirrel photos. There's another scamp I can't help adoring.
Woodswalker - if I...um...SOMEone leaves the feeders out again, then yes - raccoon delight! There is incentive now, however, to bring the feeders in.
ReplyDeleteHM...I'm thinking that the back deck might be a great place to set up our trail camera to see what sort of shots we might get of midnight marauders!
Great pictures of the barking squirrel and the nuthatch. Gray squirrels used to be my nemisis at my last place, but haven't been too hard on my feeders here...touch wood.
ReplyDeleteEllen-I love your posts-the gardening,naturalist and adk.almanac.I learn something new on every one.You've been forwarded many times to my 10 yr.old grandson Sky-a budding naturalist-any suggestions for sources for a dissecting kit ?I'd like to give him one for Christmas-he cuts apart every dead thing he finds.WBU and Lois and Nancy are the best-I travel from AuSable Forks to Saratoga Springs about three times a year to shop there-the quality is worth it -not to mention the getting carried away part.Thank you-your writing is excellent.
ReplyDeleteHi, Susan - and thanks for your kind words! I can feel my head swelling already! :)
ReplyDeleteIf you can get to a college bookstore, you will likely find dissecting kits there - biology students have to get them somewhere, and we always got ours at the campus bookstore.
Alternatively, you can try catalogues like Ward's or Carolina Biological Supplies. They are probably on-line, too, so you can try there. Another option might be a taxidermy catalogue, like VanDyke's. You can check to see if they are on-line, too.
Good Luck!