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The Bird Feeder

     Hey, everyone. My wife and I, like millions of people, enjoy feeding birds. You can make or buy a feeder, sprinkle in some bird seed, or fruit, or bread crumbs and watch as birds come to snack. Some are attracted to the crowd of other birds, as their nature is to follow a leader. On a cold winter day, the birds stand out against the snow and you can get some cool photos of colorful plumage to show your friends. I know folks who have photos blown up and decorate their homes with these pictures. Others may blog about the richly colored cardinals or even participate in the scientific studies of migratory habits.
    Heck, you don't even have to have a feeder. Just sprinkle food on the ground. Of course, ants and other undesirables might invite themselves to supper. Squirrels are the worst interlopers. I have seen these voracious rascals chew through a plastic bucket to get at the bird seed inside. Sort of like a hacker. Ha, ha. They will walk a support wire and hang upside down to chew through a hummingbird feeder and suck the sugar water that was intended for the wondrous hummingbirds. They remind me of my Dad's admonition about folks who would rather climb a tree to steal something when they could stand on the ground and make a good living.
      I like to think that my wife and I had the purest of motives about our foray into bird world. We wanted to enjoy the beauty of nature. Heck, we bought bird books to help identify the varieties of birds. We came to recognize the same old crowd of freeloaders and thrilled when we saw something new and different. I remember that we were as excited as kids when we saw our first blue bird and later that day an Indigo Bunting. At that time we had the feeder set up outside a set of glass doors.
     Heck, the birds seemed not to mind us, often preening for our enjoyment. I guess the harsh mind might say that we were paying them for the right to spy on their activities. We certainly meant them no harm. We didn't even consider that we were making them prostitute themselves for a bit of food. It certainly did not make us feel god-like to be bountiful with the food at times and stingy at others. We felt no feeling of power over their lives, I don't believe.This hobby did not turn into a business for us, as we never sold the photos to magazines or puzzle companies, nor did we publish a book of the pics.
    I must say that I felt an attack of the guilts when a cat appeared and waited ever so quietly in the leaves until he could pounce on a lovely bird and bite its head off, leaving the body. The callousness and brutality of the act showed blatantly, since he did not eat the meat. The killing for the sake of joy in killing was chilling and creepy. Even bigger birds misbehaved. Blue Jays would run off some birds to partake of the lion's share.
     The internet is like this, just a little bit. Folks trade news articles and pictures and videos for the right to observe their gaily plumed patrons. Perhaps some of them watch the most intimate habits of their feathered friends. For the latest cool tech, info or beauty, one might even allow the 3rd party EULA or cookies to watch everything one does on his or her computer. Then there are those like the Jays who like to troll around and pick on the less aggressive or the youngsters. These people spew their criticisms in an attempt to make themselves feel better about their own faults and fears. Then there are the cat people who seek a hunting ground to vent their savage and cruel natures. Not that they care one way or another about their quarry. The feed, whatever it is, is merely bait.
    Sorry. I didn't want to make anyone feel bad about feeding birds. I think it is a good thing...and perhaps a worthwhile analogy. From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.

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