Birds ... You Got to Love em ...

My office is in a building behind my house. I love having it close because all I need to do is slip out my bedroom door, cross the deck and step into the back apartment building that we've converted into a craft room, office and shop. I'm in the back with 3 nice windows that allow me to see the forest and my back yard. I sit in my office 6 days a week working on my websites and lessons for my students.

I noticed that in this new area we live in, there are a lot of birds ... maybe because of the time of year ... it is July, but a lot of variety have been flying around in the trees in the back.

So I began thinking ... How cool would it be to create a feeder that would allow me to watch the birds!

I know nothing about feeding birds ... except that you put feed out and they eat it.

So went into the shop area of my building and found an old tripod used for landscaping in years past. Found a thin piece of plywood an screwed it to the top of the tripod. Then I placed it just outside my window and piled on the birdseed that we inherited from some friends.

I watched and watched to see if there would be any takers for the free meal ... a few days went by and I was still wondering if anything would happen.

Finally a dragonfly landed on the platform ... I know he wasn't there for the food, but I got pretty excited!

After about a week, I saw my first robin ... I almost called my wife at work!!! Since then ... it's been about a week and a half, I've seen a bird on there every morning ... today, I saw two at the same time ... then I saw one run the other off. Perhaps that explains why I only see one at a time ... but I knew it wasn't the same bird each day.

I put it out there on Facebook to another chef who is feeding birds in his backyard and he reassured me that it takes a couple weeks for them to find the feeders. So I am encouraged.

Another development has been the nesting of a couple swallows in the peak of my back building. I can see them from my deck ... and the diligence of the parents to feed the now fat little babies that are constantly squawking for food ... the parents have a full time job flying around ... getting food and filling the open beaks ... you can tell when the parents are coming because they all stop making noise and the mouths open! They are constantly pushing each other around for attention to get the next fast food stop.

My wife and I had just finished watching them when she started laughing and exclaimed "I can't believe it ... we've become bird watchers! I think we're getting old!"

I have to admit that I actually thought about getting a bird book to see what kind of birds I could spot from my desk chair!

Go figure ... maybe I am getting old!

Warmest Regards!

Chef Tom Heintz