Subject: Re: Feeding the birds
Date: Jun 26 14:57:32 1997
From: Issymacds at aol.com - Issymacds at aol.com


I had a pleasant surprise with a white-breasted nuthatch in the Bog Springs
Campground in Madera Canyon, AZ. (our favorite birding place in the US) We
had hung our usual seed & hummy feeders and orange halves for orioles around
our site in the campground and had the usual instant success with bridled
titmouse, acorn woodpeckers, wb nuthatches, yellow-eyed juncos, several kinds
of hummies, orioles, etc. etc.

We decided to walk around the campground after dinner one evening. We
wandered into a vacant site to check out the birds when a wb nuthatch flew to
a nearby tree looking for a handout. I gestured "I don't have anything"
putting my empty hands out. The bird immediately flew into my hand. I was
so surprised I didn't move and he did it again even though my hands were
empty. I tried putting seeds in my hands back to our site but had no
takers, probably because it was more desirable to take seeds from the feeder.

I've heard of people patiently luring birds into their hands but didn't
expect to have it happen without even trying!

Joan Macdonald
Issaquah, WA