I'm getting old...

I get a kick out of my bird-feeders.

A) It provides hours of entertainment for my cat...

B) It provides hours of entertainment for me - although I'm in no way 'a Birder' yet - it's fun to see the different varieties of birders and their species personalities.

It’s also a hoot to watch the squirrel acrobatics as they try to raid the feeders.

I know that it's 'good' to feed the birds over the winter months when food is scarce. But it was really rewarding to see how much this actually helps

A few weeks ago I went out to slap another block of suet into the suet feeder. In the tree I noticed a small distinctive (lop-sided red cap) but sad looking woodpecker - its feathers were all scruffy looking and it didn't budge even when I got close, it looked exhausted. I'm not sure whether it was a juvenile or just some poor little guy who'd had a rough go of it.

I went back inside and made a point of watching it carefully just in case we had to do a woodpecker rescue.

Eventually it hopped onto the suet feeder and it was there for a "long-time". It hopped back into the tree and sat there for a time and then made another trip to the feeder, then back to the tree, and then back to the feeder... later in the day it had disappeared. I noticed it back at the feeder in the evening, and I’ve seen it fairly regularly over the past few weeks.

It is quite gratifying to see it now – it’s perky and alert and its feathers are healthy looking. It flits around just like all the others and it even “hangs out” with them now
*happy sigh*