You Know Your a Wild Bird Nut when.....

You know you're a bird nut when you sit in your vehicle in 5 degree weather, with the window down, to do your duty in counting the birds for Project Feederwatch and so you can take pics until your fingers are numb :-) Note: vehicle not running because the vibration causes your pics to blur!!!

At one time we had 5 English Bulldogs and had a room (heated) built for them off the carport. It has become my birdfood room. Inside are huge bags of birdfood, a counter, galvanized trash cans (the mice cannot penetrate them when they are around and about - not often). I am contemplating a small fridge (haven't told my husband yet). I make a mix for the finches (in addition to the regular thistle and finch mix) and make a fruity treat for the others (especially when it's cold). There are apples for the deer. Meal worms are now kept in fridge in the kitchen - for now.
Through the years the dogs died (we do have one bulldog and one cat) and my husband was thinking about a pool table for the "dog room"... the bird food moved in immediately and nixed that idea. He is not deprived - two rooms in the house are entirely his. I am permitted entry, however, I may not touch a thing! His decorating taste and mine sometimes don't jive. He has his space and I have mine and then we have the together spaces. He just loves to show people the bird food room!! Most laugh but a few "understand."

You know you're a bird nut when you try to find the lyrics to Splish Splash for your stepdaughter, and (naturally) you end up watching a YouTube video of an eagle bathing to the tune of Splish Splash:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfrNSzpLr0A

(this is very clean)

Tabasco--I have a great picture, will have to find it.

I love that, coo! Way too cute & funny!!!

You Know Your a Wild Bird Nut when.....

You tell your wife and kids not to eat the bananas and oranges and grapefruit because you want to put the fruit outside for Mr. Mockingbird........

Sorry kids, but those are for the birds.....

LOL!

pford, you may be tied with Tabasco for the nuttiest......LOL

Well.......I don't think I'd trapse all over town just to look for a heated water bowl.
Come on -- that's gotta be pretty bad. :^)

Just kidding tabasco -- You have a special heart for the birds!!!

Everyone HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND. IT'S FINALY FRIDAY! WHO-HOO

Just saw heated water bowls at Petsmart, too. 29.99 for smaller one.

Well today this bird nut , decide to make a new suet feeder for the Starlings!!! The saying goes " if you can beat em join em."
Made a great big batch of suet, and added sunflower seeds, cat food hot pepper and rolled oats, filled the basket, and topped it with a plastic cover, so they would have to work for their food. As soon as it was put up, far away from the other feeders, mind you, their were takers. But now this lone squirrel claims ownership of it. It kept chasing the Starlings away. Must not have put enough hot pepper in it.
LOL

This is the suet feeder.

Another problem may be that their are nuts in it.

My squirrels will brave a hot scolding mouth where nuts are concerned. :-)

When your favorite bed time reading is "BIRDS BY BENT" on your laptop.

http://birdsbybent.com/about.html

(Coo just brought up Bent's compilation on another thread and I thought it was definitely worth mentioning here!)

No nuts, just peanutbutter, and less then usual, of the recipes I make. It was fun to watch him chase those Starlings though.

Hey, I want to play. (I'm starting to feel very normal around this crowd.)

You know you are a bird nut when:

- you can't go into the back yard for any reason until the cardinal finishes his meal because you don't want to scare him away from the feeder.
- you make the dog sit by the back door and wait to go out and do his business until the Bunting sitting in the tree by the patio leaves because, again, you don't want to scare him away
- in the heat of summer when the last hour or so before dark is the only time you can bare to be out working in the garden, you force yourself to come in 30 minutes early when you hear the cardinals chirping nearby to let you know that they have come to grab their evening snack before bed
- grudgingly you tolerate the abuse of one wayward and most annoying tufted titmouse as he completely destroy the screens on the back of your house
- while gardening you let the titmouse land on your head repeatedly and walk about plucking his choice of hairs from your head - eager to be friends with said titmouse, you actually reach up and pull out a hand full of you own hair and offer it to the bird
- you have freeze dried grubs in the pantry and live insects/grubs in the fridge (but only one fridge, mind you)
- the birds have their own jar of crunchy, natural peanut butter in the pantry
- you pick up an injured bird from the patio and take him to the vet prepared to pay for his visit
- you block angry, rush hour traffic to pick up an injured Mallard from the roadside and get him to rehab before he gets hit again.
- after your knee surgery you grit your teeth and drag a ladder around the garden to climb a small tree and get a sick hummingbird in hopes of getting him some medical help before he succumbs
- you court the wrath of the HOA and have heated battles with the landscapers because, not withstanding their views on when the small trees and shrubs 'should' be pruned and in spite of the 'loony tunes' looks they give you as they storm off, you refuse to permit them to prune even the most raggedy-looking trees and shrubs until after the dead blooms have formed seeds and the birds have eaten those seeds. Likewise, you refuse to have certain specimen trees tidied up in spring if doing so would prevent the formation of blooms and subsequent seeds upon which you know the birds depend for winter food.
- no matter how much it distresses the OCD landscapers you refuse to let them cut the top out of the large wax myrtle on one side of the house in order to train it to match the size of the one on the other side of house. You try to explain that the mockingbird's roost and nest in that tree and cutting the top out would leave them homeless, something you aren't willing to do just so the 2 trees can be the same size.
- when a 'lowly', common house finch builds her nest in the light fixture some 15ft above your front door, you refuse to allow anyone to turn that light on again until the young have fledged - even despite the angry looks you get from evening visitors and pizza delivery drivers who have to count change and read checks in the dark while you explain that you can't turn the light on because of the bird.

You win, Scutler...
Seriously. Take a bow.

"you actually reach up and pull out a hand full of you own hair and offer it to the bird"

Yes, yes yes. Those are hilariously true.
Great Job Scutler

LOL, very entertaining scutler!!!

Oh, yes, I pulled my own hair out for the bird, but that was before I learned that he was quite adept at plucking hair for himself and he seemed to be rather particular about which hairs he preferred. After that I just let him walk around up there on my head plucking hairs as he saw fit - hey, it's not every day a bird lands on your head to 'shop' for nesting material, so I wasn't about to be rude to the feisty little fella. Anyhow, the Mrs was over on the fence belting out commands. I felt like he had to bring home the coveted hair or else. Much later in summer when I saw the whole family at the feeder I just beamed with pride knowing that I had given to a worthy cause.

Oh, and when the titmouse first started chasing me around the garden and dive bombing my head - back before I realized he was after hair - instead of chasing him away, I started 'wearing' peanuts in my hair for a while hoping to entice him back. LOL. Is there no end to what a bird nut will do?

Here is a pic of the titmouse on my head: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=3368926

Thanks, everyone. It's great to find a group around which I can comfortably admit to my bird hi-jinks!

You started wearing Peanuts in your hair?? That's hilarious!

Scutler, I so loved the stories of the crazed titmouse, turned hair aficionado!! I've also learned NOT to read your threads at work, because I will bust out laughing, which causes my attorneys to look at me as if I've lost my mind (I'm now on your Heidi Chronicles).

I forgot about having the special peanut butter in the cabinet for the birds and not wanting to go out when it's feeding frenzy time! But no, nothing compares to what you've done to accommodate our feathered friends. :)

We are an interesting group, I'd say!

I had forgotten about your crazed titmouse, scutler!! lol

Scutler, I thought that the pulling of the hair was the winner, until I read about the wearing of the peanuts in the hair. Really, you've taken 1st place away from Tabasco, IMO. You are indeed the "NUTtiest" of the nuts.

Yes Scutler, your pretty special, to give hair and limbs for those little creatures. LOL .
I'm with them, you deserve the award. A bronze Peanut on a special Plaque, with the inscription the" Nuttiest of the nuts". Keep up the good work.Those little critters needs people like you, and us nuts too.

Ok, my daughter just accused me of this after grocery shopping.
You know you're a wild bird nut when you buy more food for the birds than your own child....

To Scutler for Nuttiest Achievement.

I bought another bird feeder and hung it up without telling DH hoping it won't notice it hanging on the pole!! Eleanor

p.s. - I'll let you know if my deception worked!

LOL-indiana!

Good one Mrs Ed!

Eleanor, My car trunk is always hiding bird things.

I keep a roll of scotch tape in my car to remove price tags.

Or buy something but leave it in the car or closet for a week or two, and when DH asks if it's new - respond with - I've had it for awhile!

LoL, Mrs. Ed that is good!!

grammy, I do that one too! I also do it with plants and it does work sometimes. He gets the story that "it just didn't do well last year,but really has taken off this year!"

So funny. Yes, the hide it in the closet and then take it out and when asked say, "Oh, no, dear, we've had that for a while!" is a great one!

I'm so glad I'm not alone with that one, but do you really think it puts one over on them??!

The Peanut Plaque is so cute. Is that something that you put out for the birds, too?!

I'm sorry I didn't win it, but I have to admit the wearing peanuts in the hair is way beyond me on the nut-o-meter! Congratulations!

I think pulling hair from the head and offering it up for nesting material surpasses even the peanuts in hair... I mean, we're talking bald spots and pain! Nut-0-Meter should at least be capitalized in this case!!

I gotta go check to see if Scutler is having any more wildlife episodes! This is probably down time....

Scotch tape in the car to remove price tags. Hmmm...I hadn't thought of that.

Yes, I agree! It's important to have some pain when you're competing for an elegant prize like the Peanut Plaque.

I just take my hair out of the hairbrushes and put it on the bushes to provide A+ nesting material...that wouldn't win any prize, though, but it's painless!

The birds seem to hair treated with Clairol's 'nice 'n easy' Light Auburn the best!

Hi, Everyone!

Thanks for all the votes I got for Nuttiest Nut! Mrs_Ed, wow, way cool statue! (holding it up now...) I'd like to thank the academy, my Mom, Mr, T, all those who voted...

Sorry to have 'run off' and stopped responding. I was a bit sick when I 1st responded to this thread. Then my illness took a turn for the severe. I was in pretty bad shape for about a week there so I was off line. Finally, up and around and feeling good again now, however, and happy to see that I've won this prestigious award.

tabasco, I really thought you should win. I mean, eh, I though wearing peanuts and other bird treats in your hair while gardening was normal - although it did take a bit of perfecting to keep that stuff up there. And now when I think about it, I'm not sure just what made me think the bird was flying around my head in search of food when there had never been any up there before. Oh, well, the things we will do for our bird friends. But buying them their own fridge, that's pretty good. Maybe we should share the title. : )

OMG, tabasco, are you saying that you've noticed the birds are attracted to hair with a red tint? My hair has a red tint, and I wondered if that had anything to do with the bird's apparent obsession with having some for the nest. I've read that in some species the males have to find items of a certain color for the nest in order to please the female.

'Guys', I didn't pull out that much hair, not a huge chunk. I did it on the spot instead of using the hair from my brush because, well, because the bird was standing right there beside me on a branch just about 2 feet from my hair. He kept flying over to my head, trying to pull out some hair, flying back over to the branch and repeating again. That was his 1st try, and he was a little uncertain about it, so I thought I'd help him out. I pulled a small bunch of strands quickly and held them up to him. Now, come on, you know you would do the same? It's for the birds.

Yes, you said it, not me, "It's for the birds"!! The cookoo birds.

Yes, I believe tests (on my online friend, scutler) have shown that the birds like auburn colored nesting material the very best! Very scientific research.

You'll have to get a wig for next year's breeding season!

Now about that idea of buying something new, sneaking it in and hiding it with the 'old' stuff so hubby won't know, I'm convinced that one really works. I used to do it - although I never thought to carry tape to remove price tags, LOL. It works because they don't pay that much attention to the existing stuff - because it's not their hobby and they're not that interested. Consequently, once the new stuff is mixed in they can't tell. It's like adding a few more grains of salt to the pile of salt. Still looks like salt. But I would like to add this word of warning to those who practice this deception...

Many years ago I had a really bad African Violet habit. I had exotic, variegated varieties in small sun room. My boyfriend at the time had insisted I stop adding to this awesome collection. I had promised not to buy anymore. Then one day when I was at the mall shopping the local chapter of the African Violet Association was having a show and display in the mall. I was awe struck by the dazzling beauty of all those gorgeous, award winning plants; the winning plants were for sale BTW. As much as I hated to break my promise, it was just one little, er, well, big plant. How bad could that be? Surely, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to acquire the blue ribbon plant. I had to, so I figured I would just run home and stick it in the sun room with the other - as I'd done once, maybe twice before - and he would never know.

I bought it, and mind you this blue ribbon plant was about 18" in diameter, and most incredibly, as the automatic doors at the mall exit opened, I stepped out right into a group of reporters for the local news media. All 3 of our major news groups were there doing a bit on the African Violet Show (we don't have a lot of big news here). As I stepped out they shoved mikes at me and asked about my purchase. There I stood, evidence held out chest high in front of me on live news KNOWING that my boyfriend was avid fan of the evening news and would never miss an episode, and I was oh, so busted!

LOL! 'So busted!' is right!

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!!"

I have always avoided the reddish tints, but if you say so....

Scutler, you have such a full life!!! LOL!

DH never notices my shoes, although he thinks I have too many - a weakness of mine. I am unable to pass up a good shoe sale, so my purchases go in the closet to be brought out at a later time. I just don't wear them right after I've been to the mall. He really doesn't notice. Just more salt (in shoe boxes).... We're both bad about buying plants though, so neither of us can complain.

Love the news bust!!