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Sunday, March 23, 2008

Supporting the Songbirds

An unintentional side benefit of having the chickens is that we are also supporting, to some degree, the local songbird population.

The way the roof of the coop yard is designed, the local small birds can fly in and out. I have seen lots of these smaller birds come into the chickens' space to drink from their water bowl or snap up a bit of seed or bird feed.

One of our favorites is the cardinal. We love their color and their personalities - both the males and females. We often use cardinals to represent our home.



We're fond of all of the local birds and make sure to keep shrubs for them to hide and nest in, as well as keeping the bird feeders filled all winter long. Because of this we get all kinds of blue jays, robins, doves, chickadees, finches and woodpeckers. Many of them have become used to us and don't fly off when I am sitting outside letting the chickens free range.



Some things you can do to support local birds are to provide cover (shrubs and trees), water and keep your cats indoors. Not only is this better and safer for your kitty, but it will prevent many of these birds from getting killed.

2 comments:

camiropa said...

Love the photos- I, too, have a thing for cardinals. In 2002 after my Mom passed away, this obnoxious cardinal came to stalk me at my home. No matter what room I went in the house, upstairs or down, the bird followed outside and attacked the glass. At first I thought he saw his own reflection until I realized he was following ME around the house. So I started going outside and talking to him. He then started following me around the yard too! About that time we sold our home and moved to Texas...

Here too I have seen several cardinals and enjoy their personalities very much, although I have never seen one so obsessed as the one from up north. I liked to think that somehow it was associated with my Mom, trying to keep an eye on me!

Poochie said...

Just Me -

That is the sweetest story! I wish our birds were that friendly. They've gotten used to us (and our seed) but no overt interest. We just adore their personalities and especially seeing the bright spot of color in the winter.

Luv
Poochie