The person who adopted the parakeet reported that it has already died. Which is too bad, but I’m glad that it wassn’t my responsibility.
In the meantime, I figured that I could probably have the benefit of birds around, but without all the responsibility, just by putting up a bird feeder.
Which I did. But there were two things I noticed. One, only trash birds go to the damn thing. I think I’ve seen as many grackles, mourning doves, and sparrows as I ever need. My housemate says there’s another kind of bird she’s seen out there, but the description is suspiciously similar to a starling.
But there’s nothing I can do about all that.
The second thing I noticed, and something that I can do something about, is the size of the bird feeder’s perch. It’s such a narrow ledge, that the mourning doves are too fat to sit on it and reach the seed. Instead they jump on top of the feeder and bump around until the seed falls on the ground, where it is apparently being devoured largely by opossums.
To remedy this second situation I have tied a stick to the bottom of the feeder.
And because the stick makes the bird feeder more unbalanced, I figured I should tie a rock to the bottom to keep it from tipping and spilling out all the seed. (you might remember the rock from the creek aquarium)
Maybe there are some things that don’t need too much engineering. But it didn’t take long to do, and it didn’t cost any money, so I’m not apologizing.
