Photo by Geoff Carter
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, has some doubts about the keeper’s project of teaching hummingbirds to eat sunflower seeds so he can stay within the “only hummingbird feeders rule” on the balconies at Vista West where he and Phyllis reside.
So far the finches and sparrows, while demonstrating a willingness to share, have not been upstaged by orioles or grossbeaks, or hummingbirds.
The keeper’s fallback position is to turn bird watching on its head and abandon his lifetime of casual bird watching, with its long history of squirrel wars and expensive feeders and hundreds of pounds of bird food, in favor of a plan whereby the birds take up the active part of the relationship.
There is already a basis of sorts in that the keeper eats a daily breakfast of “bird” eggs and loves Phillis’s chicken soup.
This bird connection however may seem crass to the avian world but let the record show that the keeper is ready for most anything, including hummingbird soup should one of little dears crash into a window after gorging on sunflower seeds.
He has not discussed this with Phyllis, however.
Photo by Bill Stokes