David E. Steiner

Retired USAF, Teacher, Dad, Grandfather, Curmudgeon

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Bird Feeders

 

I bought a new bird feeder the other day. Actually it was last summer. It just seems like the other day be¬cause it's taken me this long to get around to putting it together. We found it at a crafts fair at Currigan Hall in Denver. A nice woman from Oregon sold it to me.

It's a tubular clay feeder, twisted at the bottom, and fired to look like a piece of log. It came with pieces of manzanita twigs for perches, and I've had to do quite a bit of whittling and fitting and the recommended epoxy glue to put it together.

But now it's done, and it really does look like a log hanging up, and the little pine siskins and finches and occasional grosbeaks are enjoying the black sunflower seeds which is all I provide, since they don't like millet and I can't afford thistle.

People argue about what seed to feed almost as much as they argue about the correct proportions for hummingbird water. Now, if you're going to smirk about this, I suggest you do it in private, because we take this stuff very seriously. Last year the men's club had a speaker who did an entire hour on rosy finches. And we don't just go into K-Mart and pick up any old feeder; we think about it, a lot. We study the Duncraft catalogue. We look for bargains in seed (many people use the feed store in Hygiene). And we consider how to defeat squir¬rels and the big jays and attract woodpeckers, rosy finches and evening grosbeaks. Let's face it; bird feed¬ing is an art!

Martin Shockley, the old skinflint, feeds his birds millet and seems to get away with it. They apparently know that's all he's going to give them. My birds will go elsewhere if I feed them that junk. On the other hand, Martin provides his birds with suet, although sometimes other animals get into it and he cusses them something fierce. He also carries on a vendetta against cowbirds, which take over other birds nests and eat their hosts’ eggs. I used to have suet, but the Stellar Jays got most of it and sometimes at night it would just disappear; raccoons, I suppose.

Eula McCollister, like many others, has a shelf feeder which holds a wide variety of seeds and she has two big pine cones which she stuffs with peanut butter.

Walt Silkworth has a wide variety of hanging feeders, most of them made by RubberMaid, and he's also hoarding two pounds of thistle seeds which he says were so expen¬sive he's not been willing to part with them.

I realize I'm on very thin ice here, since everyone has a different method of feeding and a different idea about what to feed. There are some people who are against it al¬together and they're entitled to that opinion, too, but in just asking around they appear to be a very small minority. I suppose there are things you can say against it and many of my friends talk about taking down the humming bird feeders to force the little guys to move on, but I've left mine up until they've tanked up for the flight south and they seem to be a lot smarter than I am about when it's time to leave. And I like to pro¬vide seeds in the summer. When we sit out on the screened porch it's wonderful to hear their songs from the nearby trees.

At the moment I'm just happy to have a feeder that looks very much at home hanging under the eaves. Pretty soon I'll have to start thinking about cleaning the humming¬bird feeder.

 

 

Columns

© 1985 – 2003, David E. Steiner

Allenspark Wind Columns:

Introduction

Why Allenspark?

Going Riding [August, 1985]

Electricity

Used Cars

Peace and Quiet [1986]

Liberals & Conservatives

Going to the Movies

The Screened Porch

The Beginning of The Season

The Weather

The Hilltop Guild Bazaar

The End of The Season

The Gift of Time

The Beavers

Addresses [1987]

Hiking

Watching the Trees Grow

Postal Rates

Changes in Estes Park

Square Dancing at the Pow Wow

Back to the Hilltop Guild Bazaar

The Solstices

Bird Feeders

Elevators

The Estes Park Hardware Store [1988]

Visitors

Limousine Service

A Memorial Service

A Hummingbird

Garbage

A Hiking Trip

The Estes Park Public Library

Wild Life

Riparian Rights [1989]

Weather

Fences

Commuting

Mountain Friendliness

A Motorcycle Trip

Satellite Television

“Weaving Mountain Memories”

Hotel Rates in the Old Days

The Price of Propane [1990]

The Front Range Almanac

June

Modes of Transportation

Miller Moths

My 50th Column

Modern Conveniences

Rock Climbing

On the Death of Otto Walter, Postmaster

Otto’s Memorial Service

A Big Owl Pot-Luck Dinner

A Whine About Telephone Service [1991]

After the Persian Gulf War

Some Changes in the WIND

The Trip to the Mountains

The Mountains in the Summer

Visitors

Of Dogs, Music, and Children

Muhlenburg County

To My Grandson

The Sale of Longs Peak Inn

World War II  [1992]

Murphy’s Law and the Computer

The South St. Vrain Canyon

“Whiteout”

The Hazards of Volunteering

Crime in Our Valley

Infestations

On the Death of Charles Eagle Plume

Can We All Get Along?

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

Lost Horizon [1993]

Walking

Rumors About a Visit by the Pope

Progress?

More About Fences

Woodpeckers

The Visit of Pope John Paul II

Forest Fires

The New Sewage System

The Snow Pool

The Good Old Days [1994]

The WIND’s 20th Anniversary

The Bunce School

The Shooting Gallery

The Estes Park Museum

Our Government

U.S. West Takes a Hit

The Year of the Hummingbirds

A New “Yield” Sign

Growth in Allenspark

Private Telephones?

The Salvation Army

Creation Science [1995]

Devolutionizing Big Government

Risks

Airports

Fort D.A. Russell

Domestic Terrorism

Old and New

Barney Graves

Life in the Wilderness

What’s In a Name?

Arthur C. Clarke

 

The Estes Park Trail-Gazette Columns:

July 1983

Carpentry

Estes Cone

Johnny Grant

Observations in Estes Park

The Bath House

Waving

The Sutherland’s Ice House

How Old is Charles Eagle Plume?

Dogs

Christmas Trees

Tree Murder

Mountain Driving

Garbage

Mail Boxes

More About Mail Boxes

“Are you related to ....?”

Spring

An Accident

The Wild Cat

A July Reunion

A Visit to Baldpate Inn

Opening Cabins

Summer

The Times, They Have Changed

Death and Transfiguration

The Population Explosion

The March of Time

Faith-Based Social Services

Looking for Pitch

Recent Writings I

Recent Writings II

Recent Writings III

Recent Writings IV

Recent Writings V

Recent Writings VI

 

 

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