For The Birds

The week has a nice steady pace and it's only Tuesday. I thought for sure that by today it would be crazy because everyone has returned to work from their holiday time-off and are back in the groove after a catch-up day on Monday. So far it has been business as usual, I am totally ok starting the New Year this way actually.

Sparrows, Blackbirds & Quail - Oh My!

Yesterday I was hit with a dilemma, a small one but one I hate - throwing out old, or approaching old food because we did not manage to eat it in time. We are generally extremely methodical about not wasting food but sometimes it's near impossible. Take for example hamburger buns. As everyone knows, you usually get 6 buns per package. If Cicely and I make 2 to 4 burgers from a pack of ground turkey then you are inevitably left with at least 2 remaining buns and a decision.

We will sometimes make sandwiches with the strays, but we bought sourdough for that - so use the buns and now the sourdough is going to go bad. Ok then, eat 'em for breakfast with some peanut butter lathered on top. Nope, if we do that then the English muffins we bought for breakfast will go bad. As it is now I always toast up a piece of bread with lunch to help us use the sourdough and it's still close every week. We have always bought the smaller packages of bread from a local bakery and it's still tough to finish the entire thing in a week. I guess we could eat the burgers on sourdough, but I like my kaiser buns, so no-go.

Anyway, yesterday I had about 4 slices of sourdough left and as my hand hovered the open trash can I could not get myself to throw them away - unable to release the bread and let it fall inside, wasted. I considered saying heck with it and eating it at lunch this week but then the new loaf will go bad, argh! So instead, I broke up the pieces and lined the fence out back with the bread for the birds and they were loving it! Everything showed up; sparrows, blackbirds and doves as well as quail to check out the new local buffet. It was cool to watch as well to be honest. There is a whole hierarchy that goes on there, and it's not as simple as big bird or little bird.

Without giving it much thought yesterday, I actually created a brand new problem for today. While waiting for my coffee to brew this morning I opened the window blinds as I always do to look outside and could not believe how many birds were on the fence and in the yard waiting for the buffet to begin. Oh crap what have I started?! I suppose on one had that it's a good thing because I can get rid of my extra bread but at the same time I don't want them to rely on it. Back when we first bought our home I had 2 feeders out back. One for big birds and one sock type for finches. It actually became very messy and a lot of work so I had to ween them off of the feeders so they would slowly go back to finding berries, bugs and seeds as they normally would before winter came that year.

The other problem is if they have an abundant supply of food they tend to build nests which means baby finches, doves, sparrows and quail. I don't mind the babies and neither does Oggy, he actually loves them because they taste so good and there lies the other problem. He already hunts for baby quail in the bushes every spring as it is so we don't need him hunting for all the others.

I am a softy when it comes to animals and because there is a storm coming this week, well according to the "weather guessers" I am considering giving them one more buffet today, I just hope I am not screwing up some natural cycle or something. I seriously doubt it, but you know what I mean don't-cha'? Yeah, I thought you would.

See what I mean though? Something as simple as too many hamburger buns, too large of a loaf of sourdough or a fast approaching "best when used by" date can have quite the butterfly effect on a otherwise "normal" work week. Yea I know what you are saying, just throw that shxt out and be done with it, sheesh! Sorry, if there are other options then I just cant, it's a curse.

Flying South

Alright, that is all for today. I did end up giving the birds some bread again before work but I think it was a little late because not as many showed up for breakfast. Maybe one of my other neighbors had some extra bugs, berries and seeds so my bread was not appealing today?

No worries, it will be there for them tonight or tomorrow if they want it for dinner. I just have to be sure they don't drop a bunch of it and the fuzzy kid finds it. If that happens then he will be out there on the hunt everyday sniffin' around the yard for bread goodies. Well, at least until his quail huntin' season starts in the spring.

Photo: Bird Buffet Line