I like to think it is one bird we are feeding, but the reality is there are a ton of birds that all look alike and the way they are going through food without gaining notable size, we are feeding more than one bird.
I think of it as one bird, because it seems friendly, I like keeping it personal. For him its like sitting in the window of a fast food joint. You get the food but you also get the view. He is happy to eat and then checks out the craziness of our household. Recently, I've even noticed the bird popping over to the boys window and looking in, as it is the window next to the kitchen. But it didn't start this way.
I'm a firm believer that nature, even in the big bad city, can be loved and appreciated. Normally in the Spring the Big Boy and I force bulbs in our widows. But this year we didn't; (a) my favorite bulbs are pricey, (b) and most likely more (b) than (a), I wasn't confident that the Little Man would allow the bulbs to grow without trying to drink the water. So I got to thinking maybe we should have a bird feeder.
First, I started looking all over the city for something you can hang out an apartment window. This went no where. So then I went to our porter, or as the boys call the great group of young men that make a huge impact on my daily life, "the doormans". They didn't know of anything but said they would keep their eyes open. Then one day my mail arrived with a bird feeder catalog that was clearly meant for one of my neighbors, but the 'to' address had been blacked out by a marker.
This was a great catalyst. It was an amazing catalog, with more bird feeders than one could ever imagine, from hundreds of dollars to the little <$20 bird feeder with suction cups that was perfect for our situation. And I optimistically also ordered a 5 lb bag of bird food.
The first hanging attempt was fun, the suction cups didn't stick. So we all spend 30 minutes cleaning a window as it was a ceremony and no rush. Of course the second attempt didn't work and this time I dropped it and we all had to run outside to retrieve the feeder before it disappeared from the side walk; this is after all still NYC. Finally, I rigged a simple string to the window and it just hangs. If it is really windy I try to remember to bring it in, but its held its own really well so far.
We had it up for several days with no bird sightings. Well, how were they supposed to find it up a couple of stories on a huge building? I devised a plan. Every evening, around 6 pm, the boys and I started taking bird seed to the side walk just below our window. There also happens to be a bus stop there, so everyone was enjoying the routine (NYers are generally friendly). Pedestrians would avoid our piles as the Big Boy would work on number skills counting our "customers" and the Little Man would work on keeping a distance so the birds didn't go "Bye Bye".
Then about two weeks ago I went charging in the kitchen and scared a bird away on accident. My heart sung! We have been found! We stopped putting the food on the sidewalk and only on the window, and YES, the keep coming.
The birds have become accustomed to the ruckus that I call home. They now sit better and don't immediately leave when we walk in. Sometimes I'm cooking right there at the window and a bird will sit and watch. The boys are ecstatic to say the least. They are city kids, but they are understanding that we can still take care of nature and be given an amazing interaction in return. Of course, I'm waiting for the downstairs neighbor to start complaining about poop.
