This past winter it seemed like spring was taking forever. Ease up – too much bird food, we’re going through this stuff like water! Once it warms up the birds will eat less, right? Wrong! It seems we’re going through just as much seed now as we did in when it was cold? Sure a few unwelcome grackles and starlings put a dent in the supply, but omg… seems like bumper crops of cardinals, and chickadees, and titmice, and woodpeckers, and nuthatches, and finches, and well, you get the picture.

Last summer the drought was to blame for vanishing natural food sources, but we’ve had rain galore in the Southeast. Something I’d never witnessed last year: a male cardinal feeding his fledgeling from the hopper bird feeder onto the ground, back to the feeder, and back to the baby below. It was a pretty cool sight, but also sad in a way. He would’ve been teaching that baby how to forage and find food in the wild… had it all not shriveled up 🙁

That’s why it gets me in the gut sometimes when folks say “I don’t feed the birds in summer”. It’s got to be up there with turning the birdbath over for winter. Wild birds are wild indeed, if a food source disappears, they’ll move on to find another. Just seems once you’ve attracted them with feeders or bird baths, it should be a consistent source. Call me the crazy bird lady!

Oh yeah, and the whopper of Hopper Bird Feeders? This durable cedar model with ample perching space offers two different seed mixes for maximum bird attraction! A large seven quart capacity and two removable seed trays makes it easy to clean and fill. Great quality, made in the USA makes it last too!