Game Changer

What a difference a new feeder makes. Our Troff 'n' Brew (1) style of bird feeder, reminiscent of the Saturday Night Live skit, did wonders in attracting as many as 10 common grackles and six gray squirrels at a time. The grackles - rouges by another definition - would intimidate most of the rest of the birds in what we considered otherwise an avian sanctuary. Our previous free-range feeder allowed any bird with swine genes to swoop in, shovel through hundreds of seeds at a time, and then pick the perfectly shaped and colored one, only to repeat the cycle over and over. The end result was me having to refill the feeder every two days.

Well, a couple of weeks ago the staple holding the quarter-inch chord popped out when I was pouring in a fresh stock of seed, sending it to the squirrels' buffet table below. Even though I could fix it, I declared  

we needed a new one, so off to Home Depot we went. After careful examination of what was in stock and my wife commenting, "That's the same one we got your folks," we had a replacement. Getting home I assembled and filled it to the brim, and sat back waiting for the evening feast to begin - it didn't happen. Maybe this is the reason my folks seemed to get very few visitors to theirs' - nice in design, terrible in functionality. It wasn't until this weekend that I noticed how much the feeding activity has picked, but most importantly, there has been a complete shift in species feasting, particularly of the less frequently observed ones when the grackles were around.

Just tonight I have seen: House Wren, Purple Finch, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, House Finch, and Northern Cardinal. The House Sparrow and Mourning Doves are still around, and I am glad to see that the cardinals have figured out how to hold onto the small perch and get at the seeds. Out of fairness I have to report that the House Sparrows are as big of pigs as the grackles, but they are much better mannered with the new feeder. Most importantly, we won't have to make as frequent of runs to Sam's Club to stock up on bulk bird seed as we have earlier this summer. In all, we are satisfied that the birds are back, and most importantly, with a shift in dominance and diversity.
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More Garden Technology

Other tools used in our garden include:

The new Hawk-Eye Nature Cam that my son gave me for Christmas. When I  put it up in June, remarkably it let me see the birds at the feeder, or when pointed at the ground, the squirrels and birds that frequent below the feeder - looking for an easy meal. Nothing more than I can do with my binoculars, but it is fun to lay back on the bed in the guest room where I have run the cable to the small television that has a set of RCA jacks to plug the camera into. Next step, find a low cost, short-range video transmitter and hook it up to my computer to record footage to share - it may seem like a dull life to be a birder.

Our Costco Garden Composter (2) (see owner comments) has paid off this year - we haven't had to buy any potting soil this year. Composting is not a high-tech effort - put the yard waste in, add water once-in-a-while, turn it occasionally, wait a year, and voila'....compost out the bottom. One lesson I learned a long time ago in California was that it isn't wise to put ashes from the wood stove into a compost bin - there may still be embers. Our neighbor came to our door one morning and told us that our compost ignited and our fence was on fire the night before. He had a sick child who was throwing up, and when in the bathroom, saw the flicker of firelight in the window - a close call.

Japanese Beetle Trap. When we spotted the first Japanese Beetle of the season (3),  it was time to get the pheromone trap out for another season. There is on-line debate whether the traps are affective at protecting plant such as roses - or are mere another way to attract all of the neighbors' beetles to you own yard. The verdict now well into summer - other than the climbing roses on the side of the yard, we have had few beetles damage our hybrid roses. In other words - my opinion, I would say it is a success.
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(1) TROFF 'N' BREW. Saturday Night Live, Season 3, Episode 18: Business executives dine and discuss work at a restaurant where chili is piled into a giant trough. Actors: Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Tom Davis, Al Franken (now U.S. Senator from Minnesota), Garrett Morris, Bill Murray, Loraine Newman, Gilda Radner, Anne Beatts, Jim Downey, Brian Doyle-Murray, Mitchell Laurance, Tom Schiller, and Rosie Shuster.

(2) The compost unit shown in the Costco advertisement is different than the one we bought two or three years ago.

(3) Last year I described how we hadn't experienced these pests until we moved to the East Coast.