Fledglings and Other Folk

We love watching fledglings; they are so perplexed, hopping here and there looking for food, trying to figure out what they are supposed to do. The little Cardinals don’t know that there is food in the hoppers, so they hop here and hop there with the Mourning Doves not realizing that above them is sunflower seed.

There are a couple of wee baby chipmunks, one lives at the base of the tree that holds the squirrel feeder and the other lives in the herb garden by the house. The other day when the squirrels were gone from the feeder the little tyke ran up and down the tree to the glass feeder to snatch a kernel of corn per trip, up and down, up and down – oops, there is a squirrel there now, better turn around and go home.

The animals and birds generally don’t bother each other. Most birds don’t bother the chipmunks or squirrels, nor do they bother each other. The chipmunks and squirrels don’t bother the birds. Of course they all need to beware of hawks and cats – predators don’t just fly over Pakistan. When Lily and Lina are out they provide some protection from cats for they know what belongs in their yard and what doesn’t.

There are a couple of Flickers who enjoy the suet, but the Blue Jays don’t enjoy the Flickers on the suet, however, try as they might the Blue Jays can’t intimidate the Flickers to leave – they just ignore the Jays. Tis true, the Blue Jays can gang up on other birds at times, but they are nowhere near like the Crows and Starlings – those gangs are positively obnoxious, and the fact is that the Jays are good to have around when the Crows show up for a concentrated gang of Jays can induce Crows to take a flight pattern out of town.

So we’ve got aggressive birds and peaceful birds. I wonder if the Mourning Doves are Quakers, they are nonviolent.  When the Redheaded Woodpecker arrives for lunch at the suet everyone gives him a wide berth, he is a loner who can take care of himself – the other birds don’t even make eye contact with him.