When I first put out bird feeders this year at my new place, none of the birds seemed interested. For days no creature even came near any of the seed and I put out good stuff! I buy “Chickadee’s Choice” which has sunflower seeds and nuts of all kinds, and that is usually gobbled up by many types of birds as well as squirrels, but there were no takers.

I also had one packet of suet (store bought, not my homemade stuff) and nobody seemed to want it either. Now, I love feeding the birds and have done so since I moved up north in 2005, but I’ve never seen birds ignore my offerings!

Just when I was planning on saving a bunch of money this winter because I would not have to buy seed, they began to notice and started eating. The squirrels came first, little piggies that they are. I haven’t seen a red squirrel, but there are plenty of fat (and getting fatter) gray ones.

I was also excited to hear, and see a pair of cardinals right outside the front window – and they have returned almost every day. For the 3 years I lived in my rental house, before moving here, I saw a cardinal only one time and I always thought that was strange. Now I will try to entice them to stay around, if I can convince the squirrels to share.

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