WAIT, IT'LL CHANGE

I've been over most of this country either by car or in my motorhome, and I am happy to report that in every city, town, village or other neck of our vast American woods natives to the area will cynically (and sometimes, proudly) tell you, "If you don't like the weather here just wait five minutes; it will change."

Everyone everywhere seems to delight in the thought that as good, bad or questionable their weather is at the moment, it will change, and change quickly sometimes.  Don't fret.  Don't gloat.  Just wait.

Well, weather does change, often for the worse.  (Nobody every complains about the weather changing for the better.) It seems to change for the worse when we least expect it; that is when we are outdoors enjoying a picnic, athletic event or some other activity in which the weather can play a part.

Such weather changes are common here in the mountains of Colorado.  (Similar rapid weather changes are probably common in other mountain regions, but I happen to be in Colorado.)  Just this afternoon, for example, we went from sunny to darkening clouds to winter in a very brief time.

Yes, in less than 15 minutes the sun disappeared behind quickening dark clouds.  Fierce winds blew in followed by rain, then sleet, then hail, then more rain.  The temperature dropped during that time from 75 to 45!  If you were caught outside, you were going to get soaked -- and get mighty cold. 

Twenty minutes later, the sun was out, the birds returned to the bird feeder (Where do they go when it rains, I wonder?  I've never figured that out.) and there are only a few white, fluffy clouds in the bright, sunny sky.

Wow!  Mother nature can sure present many faces at this altitude.

As fickle as she may be with the weather, however, she has rewarded us on other days with beautiful double rainbows or, at other times, soft soaking rains that green up everything and encourages native wild flowers to bloom.

Flowers here can spring up almost overnight.  Maybe this will be one of those nights.  We'll have to wait until tomorrow to see.  In the meantime, as I said, the sun is again shining and the temperature has risen to a nice 65 degrees.  The Stellar jays are congregating under the bird feeder again while the smaller birds have taken their places on the rim of the feeder.  The mountain bluebirds and one dove are bathing in the bird bath.  All is right on our little mountain top called Ponder Country.

But if you don't like this weather -- just stick around.  It'll change.

VICTORY -- FOR THE MOMENT

It's nice to think I might be smarter than the average Stellar bluejay, but I'm not "crowing" at least not just yet.  Just the same, the bluejays are eating sunflower seeds and other seeds the smaller birds (chickadees, nuthatches, etc.) don't want from the ground beneath my bird feeder.

Here is a picture of a Stellar dominating the bird feeder the other day.

During this reign of domination, smaller birds simply stayed away.  (The Stellar bluejay is one of the larger birds in the area, exceeded in size only by the magpie and raven.)  The greedy gang of Stellars, 10 at one count, took over the bird feeder and emptied it in one day.  They gorged themselves and the smaller birds got nothing.

Then I, being somewhat smarter than the average bluejay, devised modifications that twarted the bluejays.  See the picture above. 

Smaller birds are returning to the birdfeeder and the bluejays are enjoying their meal on the ground.  Everyone is happy -- including me.

THE BIRD FEED BATTLE CONTINUES

Stellar blue jays are clever little critters. They are also, like most jays, pigs and thieves. Hence, we, me and them, are locked in a battle; a battle of the bird feeder. They want all the seed for themselves, I want share it with the smaller song birds.

I may not win the battle, but I will never give up.

Those are the boastful words of a smart aleck who thinks he is smarter than birds that make a living by outsmarting other birds and most humans – and have been doing so for generations.

The bird feeder, a gift from one of my daughters, has an A-frame shape with the carved face of a wood spirit on the front. (It’s not actually carved. The bird feeder was made in China and the front is made of some sort of cheap plastic with the face pressed into it during manufacture, I’m sure.) On each side of the A-frame is a ledge/tray where the birdseed settles. Birds grasp the edge of the tray and eat their fill of seeds. As they do so, more seeds drop down from inside the A-frame housing.

It works well and it blends with the country atmosphere we enjoy here at our ranch in the mountains of Colorado.

Most birds, most small birds fly up to the tray take a seed or two and fly off. Stellar jays are pigs and bullies! They land on the edge of the tray tipping the A-frame in their direction that causes great amounts of seed to spill out of the tray onto the ground. Their companions (10 this morning: one on the tray and nine on the ground) nearly emptied the A-frame in an hour or so. They eat and eat until you would swear they could not fly. But they do. They fly off and tell all their buddies about this great buffet at the Cummins ranch.

Previously, I affixed two round cardboard tubes, about two inches in diameter, just above the tray. This blocked the jays from perching on the edge of the tray but did not prevent smaller birds from perching there. It took the jays about one day, however, to figure out that they could perch on the top of the tube and bend down to the tray from above. They did not enjoy eating “up-side-down,” but they persevered. The one on the tube still got to eat his/her fill and, happily for those on the ground, managed to still spill enough seed to keep everyone happy – except the smaller birds, that is.

This morning (Friday, August 28, 2009), I stapled a stiff piece of cardboard to the top of each cardboard tube. This created a three-inch canopy over the top of the tray that, temporarily, keeps the jays from perching on top and bending over to get to the seeds in the tray. The smaller birds can fly under the canopy, perch on the edge of the tray and get to the seeds without any trouble.

The Stellar jays, for now, must be satisfied with seeds that are tossed to the ground, of which there are many. They will not go hungry; they just will not be able to stuff themselves like feathered blue pigs, as they have the past few days.

I realize, of course, that the bird feeder battle is not over. The next move is theirs and I am confident they will come up with one.