Sparrows

My bird feeder and rain gauge took an awful beating two springs ago during one of our hail storms. Marble and quarter-sized hail shattered the roof of the feeder and knocked the bottom out of the gauge. There isn’t anything more worthless than a rain gauge with a hole in the bottom, but the bird feeder actually works better without the top on it. The birds don’t seem to mind that it looks ugly. Besides, this way they get to stand in their food while they eat it—oh boy!

The sparrows are first to arrive at the feeder of a morning. They descend from the hackberry tree, sometimes before I even get back into the house from pouring the feed.

Soon thereafter, though, they are run off by an assortment of doves, starlings, blue jays, red-winged black birds, grackles, and a squirrel. Talk about a pecking order!

My parental leanings would like to stop all the arguing and commotion, but much like children, birds don’t listen too well.

As an administrator, I’d like to tell them to quit flitting around so much. “If you’ll sit there and eat calmly just think of all the energy you’ll save.”

But how do you manage sparrows?

So, I feed them, then sit in the kitchen and watch while I eat my own breakfast of mixed grains.

Next post is about your value.