Usually a trip to the Angelkeep bird feeders became mundane, habitual, insignificant, and even more irrelevant than the last pick on the NFL draft.
Before letters are written, let it be perfectly clear that in 2012, Angelkeep joined the horde of proud folks of Wells County when one of our own, Chandler Harnish, became that year’s NFL Mr. Irrelevant. Angelkeep remained proud of all locals who achieved the ranks in professional sports, like EZ Bowl’s PGA super roller E. J. Tackett, also known as “Squirrel,” who began professionally the same year as Harnish.
Speaking of squirrels, Angelkeep’s bird feeders continually receive harassment by those rodents, causing the birds to perch on nearby tree limbs waiting for a dining table to open. Sometimes a rap on the window pane of the patio wall encourages the squirrel raiders to abandon stealing the bird’s sunflower seeds. Squirrels had even gotten to the point over this past winter that just an appearance at the patio window caught the seed-thief’s eye and they squirreled away to the ground faster than a rap could be glass-tapped.
Angelkeep never intentionally fed squirrels. Corn for deer and sunflower seed for birds got ransacked by the thieves that simply waved their fluffy tail in a “won again” signal when their belly bulged. What’s worse than a squirrel looter? Chipmunks.
Chipmunks were seldom seen in winter at the bird feeders, only because they used the three previous seasons swiping sunflower seeds and tucking them away in their underground pantry. They hunker down in winter, for this reason smarter than the average squirrel.
A summertime event of filling Angelkeep bird feeders involved too little attention being paid by yours truly when picking up a five-gallon bucket of sunflower seed one-handed by the rim instead of the pail’s bail. The aged and weathered plastic bucket rim snapped off spilling five gallons of sunflower seed onto the ground.
Much was hastily scooped up, but amounts left behind was a chipmunk’s dream of food collection. Videos were made of the repeated race to the spill spot, chipmunks filling furry cheeks with sunflower seeds so full they resembled Dizzy Gillespie’s cheeks at peak trumpet performance. Then the wee critters raced to a den hole with cheeks so wide sometimes the entry became a slowed maneuver.
With multiple sunflower seed bird feeders at Angelkeep, the task of refilling takes a few minutes. Birds are worth it. Sometimes it’s nasty minutes when the north wind blows, and snowflakes batter facial skin. If a day or two was skipped for refilling, the birds get desperate. They have been known to sit on a perch waiting, just like they did when waiting on a squirrel to end its dining, and while watching the feeders being filled they sang a song of thank you. Angelkeep loved that. They began flying to the birdfeeders before human feet hit the patio cement. Lots of satisfaction’s derived by fulfilling such a feathered friend’s need.
In winter, Angelkeep converted a bird bath to an additional feeder. There seemed something about a simple open dish or plate of sunflower seeds that gave the birds their favorite option. Maybe they prefer its unencumbered supply of food. Regular manufactured feeders use plastic with holes to reach into, or wire mesh that holds sunflower seeds in a column, requiring the birds to peck at a seed, grab it by the beak, and draw it out of the wire mesh confines before a morsel can be pecked from within the seed shell.
As a human, Angelkeep understood exactly. Humans possess the ability to purchase all peanuts and nuts by grocery shopping only the previously shelled variety, not the in-shell bags that require some sort of a nutcracker, pick, and the hardest thing to find overall, patience.
One giant exception at Angelkeep, an alteration for the human male nut eater alone, was buying peanuts in the colored candy coating shells stamped with the letter “M.” Those peanut M&Ms delights have been a life-long favorite, right up there nearly tied with cashews. However, did you know that technically a cashew is not a nut?
Last summer, while filling Angelkeep’s oil sunflower seed birdfeeders, a wet splat was felt upon the top of the head. Was that bird feeder refill person about to get drenched in a rainy downpour?
No!
Never, ever look up when filling a bird feeder.
Mr. Daugherty is a Wells County resident who, along with his wife Gwen, enjoy their backyard and have named it “Angelkeep.”
