Living the dream in a nightmare

[goodhors]

Our grasshoppers are a bit more numerous this year with our dry weather. They certainly do not get on me in bunches when mowing, yard or fields! I am going to credit the wandering Turkeys for eating them in the fields. They stroll thru during the day to find food, eat a lot of things. Our Turkeys seem to each hatch a couple nestfuls over summer, because there are a number of chicks in various sizes, but not many adult hens.

Regular songbirds do a lot of bug eating all summer, so grasshoppers would be on the menu. I try to give the birds some cover for nesting and resting in the bushes. I feed sunflower seed and peanut or peanut with raisin suets (best for energy in the cold) in winter. They say feeding helps 50% more birds survive. My local birds won’t eat the mixed bird seed, that seems to appeal to “city birds” like my friend in town feeds. Reading labels, other suets are artificially flavored, but really not using any actual fruit.

[Rackonteur]

Do your birds eat sunflower seeds? I was really interested to learn that your birds don’t like the mixed seeds. Living in cities, our backyard birds didn’t like the little mixed seeds either but loved the sunflower seeds (when the squirrels didn’t get there first!). Here in the country I see turkeys feeding sometimes when the deer aren’t around.

[goodhors]

Yes our birds love sunflower seeds. I do not feed any other type seeds. The hulls get a bit messy by spring, but not hard to clean up. We get several kinds of woodpeckers, several kinds of finches, titmice, chickadees, cardinals, mostly dark colored ltitle birds. A Bluejay now and then, along with a Hawk. We feed ALL kinds of birds!.

Any mammal visitors to the feeders come at night when the dogs are inside, mostly rabbits. A number of Owls hunting here at night, you can hear them calling. Squirrels are lean and fast, but do not have nearby trees, so the dogs do catch one now and again. There are Oaks and Hickory trees outsde the yard fence to provide them food. Deer do not come in the fenced back yard. I have put up deer fence tape, hoping they will be kept away from the front yard too.