For the Birds

At noon last Tuesday, my yard looked like a scene for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.

However, instead of attacking Tippi Hedren, my birds were busily involved in degrubbing the lawn.

This year I’ve had a LOT more birds than past years. The grackle population soared this spring. Plus I have a resident year-round mockingbird, Chubby, who guards the deck against jays and cardinals who would eat the sunflower seed I put on the deck rail.

Chubby has been around for a couple of years. He roosts on the propane line under the deck. (How do I know that? He leaves certain unmistakable signs on the concrete patio under the line.) While most mockingbirds are slender, Chubby is built like a softball.

When he hears me on the deck, he comes out and demands birdseed. He eats like a pig.

The grackles, however, are content to pig out on the grubs.