We moved a bird feeder today. Actually with the last 30 minutes. The feeder hung over the lawn and the hulls from the sunflowers were building up. I found out they contain a toxin that will kill the grass so it needed to be moved. The feeder is over mulch now, about 15 feet east of where it was near the swing. I wondered how long before the birds would find it again.
I watched from the window. The sparrows returned first to scour the area we had raked of hulls for all the little chips that had fallen. Every once in awhile one of the sparrows would do a little launch as though it was flying up to the feeder which no longer was there. At first I thought it was just coincidence that they were doing it then I saw a female cardinal fly from the holly tree to where the feeder had been. She stopped her flight and reversed course. Twice this happened. Then the male came by and did that once. The second time he flew on to a branch nearby. From there he spied the new location of the feeder and landed there to eat.
It's almost dark now and the birds have stopped feeding. Tomorrow the chickadees and titmice will have a rude shock to find the feeder moved.
