My Short Career as a Feeder of Birds

My mother had birdfeeders for years. She loved birds, and she employed a variety of feeders. In the winter, and winter lasts a long time in Fulton, New York, she had many colorful birds at the feeders-- cardinals, blue jays, evening grosbeaks, purple finches, goldfinches, as well as chickadees, nuthatches and my special favorites, the juncoes. Naturally, not only the celebrity birds benefited from the feeders. Dozens of sparrows, not to mention starlings, grackles, and other proletarian birds, also got many meals at my mother's expense, not to mention squirrels, chipmunks, and, much as it pains me to admit it, the occasional rat. And I'm sorry to say, some cats and predator birds also profited from my mother's largesse, but it wasn't so bad that it ever discouraged her from her charitable works on behalf of her feathered friends.

My next-door neighbor has a couple of feeders in her back yard, and I love to see the cardinals and other colorful birds at her feeders. I don't have any feeders myself, because so much snow collects in the back yard during the winter that I doubt whether I could get out there regularly to replenish the feeders, and it seems unfair to attract the birds during the better weather and then abandon them when they need it most. There are also enough cats in my neighborhood that I have misgivings about helping them to get an easy meal. Nevertheless, I enjoy watching the birds at my neighbor's feeder and look forward to watching her bird visitors during the winter.

When I was in law school, I lived in an upstairs apartment in a house in the city of Tonawanda, New York. One winter I got the idea of putting a bird feeder on the flat roof outside my kitchen window. The feeder was nothing special. It consisted of a large aluminum pie plate filled with bird seed from the grocery store, and the birds who took advantage of it weren't special either, being only sparrows, and a great many sparrows, at that. I never realized until then how many different kinds of sparrows there were, and I loved to watch them.

Unfortunately, I wasn't a feeder of birds for long. One day, my landlady informed me, somewhat apologetically, that she wanted me to take the bird feeder down. According to her, the birds on the roof made too much noise. I did as she wished, but I was very sorry about it, because I had enjoyed watching the birds from close up. So there I was, even though involuntarily, a faithless feeder of sparrows. I still regret it, but there's no reasoning with landladies who have decided that somehow the birds must be damaging the roof, which is what I'm sure she did believe. Spoilsport!