New Bracket

Please ignore the dirty window pane. All I can say is, don't hang a suet feeder too close to your window, birds spray a little when they peck at it and it's very hard to clean off.

I'm constantly challenged by my feeding situation. I try to attract birds without feeding squirrels, starlings and pigeons. I'm not opposed to those three species, but I have limited space and living in an apartment I have to feed sunflower out of the shell to eliminate a shell mess on the ground, and that gets expensive for those three species to chow down in an hour. I used to put food out for the squirrels, but when the food is gone, they chew their way into the windows and those types of rowdy guests will cause an eviction of the Stitelers.

I had used a Twirl-a-Squirrel to keep squirrels, pigeons, and massive amount of starlings off of my feeder, but as you can see in the above photo, the squirrels learned that they can hang on the wall and eat out of the feeders, without causing the baffle to spin the feeder. So, I needed to find a window bracket that would extend out farther and would be strong enough to hold the baffle and a full feeder. Not as easy as you would think. I stopped into a Wild Birds Unlimited in Hudson, WI and came across a set up that I thought would work (pictured, right). I like how I can just start with a couple of pieces and there is room to add more feeders and eventually more brackets. It is strong enough to hold the motorized baffle and feeder and I have learned that is also strong enough to hold a pigeon trying to feed of the feeder while it starts to spin.

I put the new bracket up late in the afternoon and that night it snowed, sure enough the next morning a squirrel was eyeing the set up. He jumped over to the ledge, climbed to the top of the bracket and sat above the baffle--I was impressed, the bracket could hold a full feeder, a fat squirrel and a heavy baffle (the baffle looks small, but it's got a motor and three D-cell batteries that cause the feeder to spin when anything squirrel size gets on the feeder--it works well to keep large mammals and birds off, but I don't recommend it for suet feeders, pileated woodpeckers cause the baffle to spin the feeder). The squirrel tried to get around the baffle but appeared to feel uncomfortable with its footing on the thin wire of the bracket and went back to the ledge. The squirrels know than when their full weight is on the feeder, it will spin, so this one decided not to jump onto the feeder. I think the two story drop from my window helps deter them from that. Although, one day we had two squirrels battling on our ledge. I watched one get pushed off and land feet first on the ground and scampered away into a tree without any apparently limp--another reason why I think squirrel muscle is part rubber. Eventually, the squirrel jumped back into the tree and descended to the ground, but not without giving me the hairy eyeball (pictured, right). It must have been taking lessons from Cinnamon.

Incidentally, the Wild Birds Unlimited I was in, was the most masculine bird store I have ever visited--run by all men! Not that there's anything wrong with that, I think the bird store industry tends to attract more women. It's a nice store full of fun gift items as well as bird seed. They also have different events happening, including a Moonlit Walk on February 11, 2006.

GIANT Disapproval

I was sent the story below from Scott Schultz the crazy inventor who developed the Squngee (rhymes with bungee). We can thank Scott for coming up with a way to distract squirrels while getting entertained at the same time. If you are ever looking for a unique gift for someone, I highly recommend a Squngee. A man stunned onlookers at an agriculture fair in Berlin when he brought his 22lb rabbit along. Passers-by thought Hans Wagner had a large cuddly toy with him and were shocked when they discovered the 3 ft 1in rabbit was real. Herman is one of a breed called the German Giant reports the Daily Mail. A spokesman from the German Rabbit Breeders' Association said: "They are good-natured, reliable and calm. They are, however, because of their size, not very suitable for children." Most German Giants reach between 16lb and 18lb. But Herman - who eats more than 1lb of food a day - has just kept growing. He lives in a specially-constructed hutch made of solid oak.

22 Pounds?!? I think that maybe too much rabbit, even for me. And I'm sorry, a solid oak hutch? I know how quick a seven pound Cinnamon can chew through most things, I give a 22 pound rabbit about two weeks to get out of that hutch. Sheesh.

Birding at the Mall of America

I have the worst headache this morning, and I can only attribute it to one thing, having been to the Mall of America two days in a row. There are some wonderful shops there, including a Wild Bird Store, however I never feel more confined and claustrophobic than in that place.

I had to go Friday because it was Non Birding Bill's birthday and we have a special fondness for the restaurant Long John Silvers--one of our favorite eateries when we were getting to know each other in college. There are very few up north and the only one in our area is of course at the Mall of America. I cannot deny NBB his favorite food when it is his birthday and especially because he puts up with so much living with me.

When we got home, we got a phone call from Lorraine (pictured below, with the sprained middle finger and me below) saying that our good friend Kitty Cat(pictured above with NBB) was in town and would we meet the two of them for lunch at the Mall of America tomorrow. I glared at NBB. He asked Lorraine if we could meet outside the Mall, since we were just there that day. Lorraine offered to pay for lunch and well, I hardly see Miss Kitty so I acquiesced.

Our friends have such interesting lives, Lorraine is a personal assistant to Mr. Neil, is a fabulous violin player and has her own band in the form of Lorraine a Melena. Miss Kitty is an artist who makes cool magnets (she made one for me of Jackie Chan) and travels a bit with bands as a chef or as a personal assistant. And when I say bands, I mean bands like Motley Crue, Depeche Mode (one of my high school favorites, she gave me her backstage pass when she was finished), Foo Fighters and she may be going out with Tool in the near future.

After our lunch we looked at a few shops like the Apple Store, Hot Topic and Urban Outfitters where I was surprised to find some bird clothing. There is a line called Modern Amusement which had some sweaters, pants and boxer shorts with birds (you can already see in the photo at left, I really have had enough of the Mall of America--the wine from lunch must have been wearing off). I was very intrigued by the boxer shorts and really wanted to purchase a pair, but alas, every piece of clothing I have ever purchased from Urban Outfitters doesn't last beyond a second washing and I can't justify paying $20 some odd dollars for boxer shorts with birds on them, not matter how accurate they are. I have never purchased clothing from this line before so it may be able to stand up to a washing machine, but I've been burned too many times before by UO clothes to risk chancing it. Anyway, here are some of the bird designs up close:

I highly doubt that blue jays ever wish they were peacocks. They come off cocky enough as it is. I thing blue jays prefer to think of peacocks wishing they were more like blue jays.

This, to me looked like a female red-winged blackbird. If anyone has any other ideas as to the identification of the species, please feel free to let me know. It's a bold choice to pick a more obscure bird like this. And I find the message, "Beware of Cougars" to be one of the more sensible things I've read on a pair of boxers.

The purple finch on the blue boxers exclaiming that he never promised me a rose garden was my favorite. And it's true, the never do promise rose gardens--at least none of the field guides out there say that they do.

On Friday when NBB and I were at Long John Silvers, we sat on the third floor eating our greasy fish and chicken we could look down on Lego Land, I remembered back over eight years ago when I first applied to the Wild Bird Store and began my birding career. I so did not want to work at the Mall of America, however, after a string of temp jobs to support my theater career, which included working for a penile implant factory translating french questionnaires about people with erectile dysfunction as well as urinary and fecal incontinence and then a job working at a Chemlawn office, I was desperate. The Chemlawn job was the worst, you could smell the chemicals in the offices and being opposed to it, I felt horrible working there, both physically and morally. That was the first time I did something completely irresponsible--when my break came, I walked out to my car and just drove away--no word to the supervisors, nothing.

So, I decided on trying for the bird store, the job was only part-time and at the Mall, but I figured I could just get my foot in the door and go from there. As luck would have it, I learned during the interview that a full-time job was available in the company that was at a neighborhood store and not the Mall and things fell into place there. That interview was so strange though, because I met the manager for a coffee at a little table next to Lego Land and a Mary Kate and Ashley movie was being filmed while we talked. I wonder, if that some sort of omen about my career decision to get out of theater and into birding.

Everyone Was Kung Fu Birding

I was just sent this news item from Brian the bartender at the Governor's Club at the Madison Concourse Hotel ( a great place to stay in Madison):

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - Organizers of a vintage car rally have hired karate experts to protect vehicles from marauding native parrots, a media report said Friday.

Around 40 members of a local karate club have been enlisted to protect around 140 classic cars due to visit an alpine village near Mt. Cook on New Zealand's South Island on Sunday, the New Zealand Press Association reported.

The karate experts will protect the cars from Keas, sharp-beaked native parrots which have been known to damage vehicles in their search for shiny items, NZPA said.

Denis Callesen, manager of the nearby Hermitage Hotel, said bird lovers needn't be concerned that the karate experts would use martial arts moves on the parrots, which are a protected species. Their job would simply be to scare the birds away, he said.

Local wildlife ranger Ray Bellringer said the karate masters were unlikely to deter the Keas.

"They will fly around and laugh," he said.

The best method to prevent Keas from damaging vehicles was to squirt them with water pistols, he added.

A quick note: I don't think the karate experts will be dressed as The Eighteen Brassmen of Shaolin Monastery pictured in the photo about, but boy wouldn't life be fun if they were.