what, are you looking at me?

Although the bird feeder was primarily for Starbuck's enjoyment, I found myself watching along with him from time to time (well, actually, a lot). We both would lurk in the darkness under a table, side by side, and peer at the birds through the jalousie slats. When something particularly interesting happened (like the arrival of the pheasant hen and her chicks), we slowly looked at each other and tried to be quiet. His enthusiasm was always contagious and sometimes we did end up making too much noise and scared the birds away. Soon enough, they always came back, at least until the feeder was empty.

However, we didn't always find the same things interesting. For example, the Kentucky cardinals and shamas weren't that fascinating to the Buckster. They usually fed away from the action on a smaller feeder. This smaller feeder was the first to be used but after seeing the volume of finches that arrived, a new tubular feeder with multiple roosts became necessary. Even that, when filled with 3-4 cups of bird seed, was depleted within 15 minutes.

The cardinals apparently found the plastic red bird attached to the smaller feeder intriguing. The male cardinal would catch it looking at him, in a confrontational eye-to-eye posture, and they invariably ended up in pecking contests. Although the plastic bird always lost, he stood his ground, probably to the chagrin of the male cardinal, who probably demanded a more gracious loser in battle. On the other hand, the female cardinal seemed to nurture it, sometimes by trying to feed it.

And, she never quite got a thank you from the stoic, plastic ingrate.