slow day in the 'burbs

I've become a little obsessed with attracting birds to my backyard. I started with a niger feeder, which the chickadees love (and so do the juncos, who pick up what the chickadees drop), and graduated to a peanut feeder. The squirrels have fattened up nicely on the peanut feeder, though it has also attracted a couple of stunning Northern Flickers. In an effort to lower my seed bill and give the birds a fair chance we made a squirrel baffle with the bottom of a 4L milk jug. Like crows, squirrels thrive for a reason:


Since then we've lengthened the hanging line! Next we got one of those kits for building a glass-sided feeder with a little roof over top. Talk about being a victim of its own success: yesterday I counted seven Steller’s Jays, one flicker and two squirrels duking it over squatting rights. When the crows got interested it was all over except for the crying (like Tuesday’s election). I had to rescue the feeder after they’d totally emptied it and knocked it out of the tree. The cat was thrilled by the show, though.

But enough endless excitement from the 'burbs. Wouldn't you rather check out what happens when bad cakes happen to good people?



Or maybe you'd prefer to become a walking Chia Pet (or take home a Chia Thug)?