I either solved the problem, or got lucky and all the big birds left. I took down the seed-hopper feeder (it was empty anyway), and replaced it with a tube seed feeder. The tube feeder has four small perches, and is proportioned for smaller birds. A big bird has to be a contortionist to stand on that little perch and eat seed out of the feeding port right at his feet. After the big birds left, we got a five chickadee morning, all on the feeders at once. That was nice.
Birds suck!
We put together a really good bird feeding rack and hang several feeders on it with different kinds of seed and suet. We even provide water. Then we wait. It takes a while for the little birds to get used to this new contraption in their neighborhood, but then the reward: first a few house sparrows and house finches, then they are joined by little chickadees, nuthatches and hummingbirds swarming all over it. What a delight! But then the big blackbirds, grackles, and jays descend on the feast and demolish it in a matter of minutes. The big birds scare the little birds away and when they’re through, there is nothing left for the little birds. Wait till the big birds are gone and put more food out; they weren’t really gone, they were lurking. Here they are again and it’s gone in another flash. I think we still need one more birdfeeding accessory. A pellet gun.
Basalt
I worked at the client’s all day today, so I don’t know if the pinyon jays came back or not. There was no seed in the big feeder when I got home though, so we know someone was here. The squirrel in the yard is looking a little chubby. Grackles and red-winged blackbirds are around too. They can suck up a lot of seed. Judy wasn’t here to watch the feeder either. She drove down to Louisville again for a City Council meeting for final approval of the minor subdivision we did to separate the two properties. I was wrong when I said before that we were done with the City. Turns out the Planning Commission doesn’t approve the subdivision, they just recommend to the City Council that they approve it. On the agenda for “pass on consent”. No reading or discussion unless someone asks a question. We had several people there in case anyone asked a question. It passed without discussion. We’re done. We officially own two lots just like we always thought we did.
Basalt
Our camp hosts at the RV Park in Basalt seemed particularly cheerful this year. It didn’t take long for them to confide that a sale was pending. They continued cheerful for the entire month of July. Then the sale was announced in the local paper. The Aspen-Basalt Campground just sold for five point five million. All those years Bonnie and Rich have been working so hard. I wonder if they thought they were running a campground all that time, or realized they were just babysitting land. The last remaining campground in the valley just got sold to the Aspen Ski Company, not as a campground, not as a going concern, but as land the Ski Company can bulldoze to build employee housing. A magpie record this morning. Five of them at our feeder at the same time. And a pack of pinyon jays. For the first time, they stopped at our feeder. First one, then a dozen. Two dozen. Four dozen. That’s never happened before. It will cost us a lot of food if it continues.
Basalt
Nice summer mountain weather. Each day dawns cool and bright. It warms up into the eighties, but there is moisture in the monsoonal flow from the south overhead. The humidity in the air gathers into thunderheads in the afternoon providing cloud cover and afternoon rains. The next day dawns cool and bright again. It’s not just our feathered friends that enjoy our bird feeders.