On one of my very rare visits to Costco, I saw this St Frances Bird Feeder in their seasonal section. I thought it was well made and I had just the right place for it. I am not usually into such things from Costco because they sell in such large quantities that being in any way unique is out of the question. But I appeased myself with the small pile of statues and was happy that I would be one of only ten people in Santa Maria to have one of these Saint Frances of Assisi garden feeders. Of course, this could have been the end of a palette of 27,000 statues which would allow for one for every home in our area but I chose to believe the alternative. 

Okay, I know I "think to much" and not exactly in a thought pattern that anyone should or would readily embrace but that is my plight and at some 51 years of age it is not likely I will change. 

After I put this statue in the garden, I also hung a bird feeder, my first ever. (Other than my hummingbird feeders) My feeder and statue are located in the back of my yard, the feeder hanging from an Apple Tree and the saint standing in the corner, approximately 20 feet away and a lovely birdbath which coordinates with my feeder triangulates the corner of my garden where I hoped a bird or two would come to feed.

I wondered how long it would take for birds to find my feeders, if it would attract crows, if we had any birds worth attracting and various other musings. I ventured to a feed store and purchased a small bag of seed for about $8.00 and that evening, filled the feeders and sat on the patio, basking in my accomplishment. What a beautiful scene, flowers, a saint, trees and minutes later a few birds. This was great!

The next evening when we arrived home, the feeder was empty and the fountain dry and needing cleaning because birds don't know you shouldn't poop in the tub. Saint Frances, hidden behind the Cosmos didn't have a seed to spare and I was out eight bucks. I must admit I was a bit of a sinner at this point!

As we ate dinner on the patio that evening, I noticed some wonderful, small birds which I had never seen before, some type of finch I thought. As I enjoyed my salad, I was serenaded by the lovely chirping of the birds hidden in the tree  outside our fence which towers above the apple tree. On the telephone poles in the alley behind our home were perched a pair of Mockingbirds which sang melodiusly as the sun set on a warm spring evening. I really loved these birds being in the neighborhood. I didn't even mind the distant cawing of the crows though I hoped they stayed in the next block.

I read an article that said birds liked a diet of seeds and insects and if you attract birds to your yard you will naturally control the insect population. I could get behind that.

New approach. I shopped the ads in the paper and found the same seed for two bucks at OSH and stocked up. We fill the feeder twice a week and the birds visit all week long and clean up all the seed they throw into the grass when they voraciously eat from the feeder. What a wonderful collection of birds are visiting our yard. Birds I have never seen before in colors I have not noticed in birds in our valley.

My new found friends are faithful. They regularly empty my feeders, clean up the fallen seed and pluck away at the grubs in my lawn. I imagine them spreading the word of abundant food in my back yard. Sometimes, when the feeder is empty I hear little flutters in the trees and wonder if the birds are discussing whether or not I will be filling the feeders.

I read another article which overviewed the plight of backyard bird feeders, attracting pest such as sparrows, squirrels, blue jays, crows and such, damaging the feeders and eating large amounts of seed and driving off the smaller, more desireable birds. I worried. Then, some friends, humans, visited over the weekend and we were discussing the birds and they remarked how a friend of theirs, in San Diego, had to fill the feeder twice daily and now was on some type of national registry of bird locations. Again, I worried.

For now, I am enjoying the small, song birds and arrival of the hummingbirds to my feeders and decided I read and think too much.  I am comforted that if a problem presents itself, Costco will get in a small number of Saint Joseph statues, who knows?