For the Birds!
     by Geri Rodin
 

Look, Linda, our  Italian, Jewish   Cardinal!  Linda Hirshman, with those big, wide eyes, turns her head 180 degrees, saying…where?  We are seated, having Sunday Brunch at  our home with her husband David Forkosh,  and my guy Syd.   Well, it was 11Am!  That is the breakfast time for Lord and Lady Cardinal,  with a 4:30PM dinner time every day at the Rodin residence.

When we first arrived here from Penna. 2 years ago, we installed our bird feeder, and  begin buying 15# sacks of bird feed.  We were so pleased to be able to see the birds feeding, and watch their habits.  We had a bird feeder in the tree that we could watch from our kitchen table, and the Arizona room.

It seemed that our house had been built on a “bird flight path”, because as we would  watch, the birds seemed to have a specific pattern of flying between and around our house.

Well, I bought lots of bird seed. First 10 pounds, then 15 pounds and 25 and 50 pounds.  The birds, that first year began coming in increasing numbers.  I was so thrilled.!  They are wonderful to watch. 

THEN THE WINDS AND RAIN CAME! 

The birds “took refuge” on our covered patio.  Birds that had eaten...all that seed that we had provided.   AND, they left their “droppings” on every chair, lantern, table, and floor space that they occupied.

When I spoke to my mother about the “wonderful-ness of the birds” she told me of the house in Idaho that had been painted yellow, and the birds descended upon it.  The children could not go out to play.  The “Bird Mess” was so unhealthy….

Syd said not to feed the birds anymore.  Well, it is always so much fun to see them visiting and be able to watch them up close, that I could not “not feed the birds”.  But I decided to see if they perhaps liked things other than bird seed, as we have seen them picking at the most minute of particles on the streets.

This day, after breakfast, we had ½ bagel with a little Lox (smoked salmon) on it, left.  I cut it in small pieces and put it on the bird feeder, knocked on the top “three times” to let them know it was there, and went inside.  Within 5 minutes…..

The Cardinal arrived.  Wow!   Was he speculator !  He landed on the top branch of the tree…stood guard…looked around and up and down.   After deciding it was safe, his mushroom colored “wife” arrived.  He immediately took “outlook” position above here, as she enjoyed the lox and bagel.   Shortly after her breakfast, both took a large portion of bagel,  the female flying away first, and the red Cardinal, after her.