Today is April Fool's Day, but I do not want to play the fool, so no jokes from me.

I have been back in NC for two full days now. One of the first things I do each year, usually within hours of arriving, is to put my bird feeders up. I am a bird watcher, not the kind that goes out and hunts down as many different species of birds as I can, although I am participating in the Great Backyard Bird Race over at dkos. I am not a bird photographer like some of the very talented folks who post to the Dawn Chorus diaries. No, I am a just watcher of the birds that come to my feeders. But they are my birds and the feeders allow me to share in their comings and goings.

Our yard is naturally a great place for birds. The previous owner had planted the exterior borders of the yard with lots of shrubs and trees. It not only provides a lot of privacy, but also many places for birds to sit and to nest. The previous owner also had planted a large tree next to what was once the deck to shade it from the afternoon sun. This tree provides a wonderful jumping off spot for the birds to come to my two hanging bird feeders.

These two hanging feeders are right next to the breakfast nook of the kitchen and the place where I spend most of my time when on the computer so I have a great view of the birds from only two to five feet away, depending on the feeder, and separated only by the window.

My two pole feeders sit on posts on the ground below. All four of my seed feeders can be see from both the table in the breakfast nook and from the kitchen itself when I am working in there. So I get a lot of opportunity to watch the birds. I also maintain one hummingbird feeder which I have not yet put out, but should do so soon.

One of the pole feeders is large metal feeder with a tray big enough for birds that usually feed on the ground to stand in. It was a gift from an old friend who is a metal worker and it is a work of art. This bird feeder will long outlive me. It was designed to last and it is extremely functional. I have yet to see a squirrel figure out how to open the hinged lid on the top. While no bird feeder is squirrel proof, because the squirrels still can get in it to eat from the tray, they cannot raid this one. In addition to the squirrels, the birds that come to this feeder include cardinals, blue jays, towhees, song sparrows, and mourning doves. The song sparrows, towhees, and mourning doves are normally ground feeders, but the tray on this feeder allows them to get in and feed as if they were on the ground. I use a basic all purpose seed mix in this feeder.

The two hanging feeders are pictured below. These are very cheap bird feeders that I bought at WalMart. I used to have two much nicer ones, but both were destroyed by squirrels when we were away for the day and I had forgotten to take them down. So now I just use these cheap ones and if they get destroyed, it costs very little to replace them.

These feeders each hang from a line that can be raised and lowered from the ground below. I fill these two feeders with a higher grade songbird mix which consists mostly of black oil sunflower seeds, plus safflower seeds, dried fruit, and peanuts. I have tried various mixes, but the one I like best comes from WalMart because it has the peanuts in it. The nuthatches, woodpeckers, and titmice really love the peanuts and will search until they find one. Even though this seed mix is expensive, I have also found that using a higher grade seed mix is more cost efficient because there is no waste. Everything gets eaten.

The birds that regularly come to these hanging feeders include cardinals, titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, house finches, gold finches, downy woodpeckers, and blue jays. Occasionally a Carolina wren, a house wren or a song sparrow will come, but not on a regular basis.

In some future installments, I will share some of my observations from watching the birds.

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