Birdfeeding

[ysabetwordsmith]

Today is mostly cloudy and sweltering. 

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.  Bees are visiting the small metal birdbath again.

EDIT 7/6/25 -- It's raining, so I won't have to water anything today.  :D

Comments

Re: I've been meaning to ask

[priscilla_king]

Cats can clean out a brood of ground-nesting birds like grouse or plovers. I've brought mine inside, and warned other cat people to bring theirs inside, for the week or two it takes the babies to start flying. Other than that, if you see a cat playing with a bird that has feathers, the bird was already near death and the cat needs protection from contact with it. Try to scoop up the bird without touching it, wrap it in a few layers of paper or plastic, and burn it.

(In Virginia, where most birds are tree-nesting, anyway. The situation is completely different in Hawaii.)

Re: I've been meaning to ask

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>Cats can clean out a brood of ground-nesting birds like grouse or plovers.<<

So can snakes, skunks, possums, and foxes all of which we have around here. On a farm, mice or rats may go for it too. Which is why ground-nesting birds like killdeer, pheasants, etc. in the same habitat have evolved ways of coping with that.

As you said, it's different in Hawaii or other island habitats.