Food for the many birds who stay around over the winter months is beginning to get scarce.
The birds don't know that German grocery stores and building/DIY chains start their fall sales of bird seed and greasy balls of winter food in early october, when shipping pallets stacked high with 2 gal. buckets crowd out the chewing gum, chocolate, lighter and what not items at the cash registers.
Judging by the speed with which the bird feed flies off the pallets even here in the rural countryside, German birds will do well until spring.
TheEditor ("I looove birds") at the K-Landnews maintains a tiny amount of bird feed as winter entertainment for the cats. Hang seed balls from a bush or tree with a clear view from a window, and the cats will spend most of the brief daylight hours watching birds.
No, the cats do not hunt birds, in case you wonder. It remains a minor mystery to us why the feral raised cats prefer kibbles, Sauerbraten, pea soup, and yoghurt over hunting.
And the birds don't seem to mind the onlookers either.
Our true contribution to getting a large number of birds through the winter season is much bigger and much more substantial: two tall mountain-ash trees out back represent the all you can eat buffet for our feathered friends. Wikipedia says that around 60 bird species eat the small, sour red fruit, and we can attest to the observation.
Right now, we have at least some 20 birds in the two trees at any given time, mostly blackbirds, chickadees, robins, with some nosy and noisy sparrows.
This year was a great year for mountain ash fruit, the branches were weighed down by the thick red clusters, and there are many pounds left after the late fall storms.
Fun for the whole family (humans watching cats watching birds) is ensured for months to come.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
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