So, we have this very pretty art deco feeder at the bird store that I have wanted to hang outside my window but couldn't because of the massive amounts of pigeons that I get coming to my feeder. The photo at left is one that flew in while I was leaning out the window. They really do know that I'm a softy even if they do irritate me and will fly right over anytime I move near the bedroom window hoping against hope that I'm putting seed on the ledge. I like pigeons in small doses, but one quickly turns into thirty and they can put more seed away than a squirrel and are much noisier. I usually have to go with weight sensitive feeder to keep them off...which usually work, although I did have one pigeon figure out a Yankee Whipper by putting one foot on a food port, the other on a perch and then flapping like mad while it ate.

Anyhoo, I'm trying out a Twirl-a-Squirrel a motorized baffle that will calibrate your bird feeder's weight and then spin the feeder whenever anything squirrel size lands on it. A customer told me that she has one and her pileated woodpecker is heavy enough to set the TaS a spinning so I thought I would try with my pigeons.

This morning I woke to the sound of the motor spinning the feeder and I smiled knowing it was doing its job. Two minutes later the motor went off again. Another two minutes later the motor went off again...and again...and again. One pigeon just kept after it and after it. I sleepily wondered if it was that stupid that it couldn't figure out that it wasn't worth going to the feeder when Non Birding Bill pointed out that the bird was probably trying to wear out the battery. Surely they couldn't be that smart? That's an awfully small head governing an awfully big body. It shall be interesting to see where this goes.