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The Irony Of It All
Brad Hollerbach

Bird-Brained Buying Blunder

Posted Wednesday, January 26, 2011, at 12:00 AM

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  • Brad, I've become annoyed with feeding the birds. I enjoy the cardinals, blue birds and the other various little birds that frequent my backyard BUT I can't stand those dam blackbirds. They are pigs and bullies. They gobble up all my feed in a day. Along with seed, I enjoy using my corn bunge-thingy (purchased at Sunny Hill) or another corn holder attached to a tree but the blackbirds just eat it all as well, so I have quit entirely.

    On a side note, you should consider purchasing one of those bunge-cords for the corn, it is quite entertaining to see the squirrels become acrobats attempting to get one lil' kernel.

    -- Posted by Turnip on Wed, Jan 26, 2011, at 9:10 AM
  • We've been lucky, Turnip. The blackbirds will only occasionally visit us. The two feeders we have close if there is too much weight on the perch so blackbirds are essentially SOL. The squirrel has figured out that if it holds on JUST RIGHT it can bypass the security mechanism and scoop out the food.

    I'll have to stop by Sunny Hill and check out one of those bunge-cord thingys. They sound like fun.

    Thanks for reading.

    -- Posted by Brad_Hollerbach on Wed, Jan 26, 2011, at 9:45 AM
  • As one of the first Bootheel farmers who raised milo, I can attest that 4 out 5 birds prefer milo over corn, wheat, rice, soybeans, cotton, careless weed and cocklebur (all were plentious on our farm). I never did the market research on black-oil sunflower seeds, as we didn't raise them.

    And, why aren't you using the self-draining retired refuse receptacles (ain't alliteration a wonderfun thing?) and feeding the mice, too? All of God's creatures have an appetite. Mouse hater. HA!

    -- Posted by Just_Wondering1 on Wed, Jan 26, 2011, at 9:50 AM
  • Brad, if I remember correctly, the cost was approx. $20. Well worth every penny. We've enjoyed countless hours watching those goofy squirrels.

    -- Posted by Turnip on Wed, Jan 26, 2011, at 2:00 PM
  • I'm not a mouse hater, Just_Wondering, but the SPOUSE of a mouse hater. In other words, I'm just following orders...

    Thanks for the suggestion -- and reminder -- Nil. I actually have one of these gizmos tucked in my garage.

    A few years ago our editor at the time -- Joe Sullivan -- decided to clear out his collection of bird feeders. I bought one of the two that I now use in my yard and a Yankee Flipper model just like on the YouTube video. I used it one season, then put it away. I had completely forgotten about it until just now.

    After watching that video, I think it is time for it to have another go-around.

    TFR

    -- Posted by Brad_Hollerbach on Thu, Jan 27, 2011, at 8:26 AM