GREEDY BIRDS

Bad weather brings out the worst! With the frigid temperatures dropping even further, the birds (a few anyway) seemed to get more selfish as the temp fell. (Probably just a basic survival instinct.) There were usually no more than two birds on the feeder at a time, not allowing other birds to land. I watched for almost a half hour today – during that time there was constant activity. If the two at the feeder changed, the next two would be just as selfish. The ‘chasers’ were very confrontational, either squawking, ‘Don’t even think about landing here,’ or once in a while one would dart forward into the landing bird. I posted three shots of birds ‘putting on the brakes’ as they’d almost land, but then had to veer off. (Also, looks like a squirrel is at the back of the feeder, but it's actually several feet behind and on the ground.)

Interestingly, they usually took a moment to regroup, and then would try flying in from another direction. If they did get to land, believe me, they grabbed a seed and got out of there pronto!

My downy woodpecker (also on Flickr) would have been my blip for today because it was on a limb (instead of on the suet), and because it was a better quality shot. However, he really didn’t have a ‘story’ to match these ‘Greedy Birds’.