Apples for the birdies
A while ago I read a post where Shirl had stuck apples for the birds on the top of her garden pergola. Good idea I thought.
So I cut one in half and attached them to my bird feeding station Don’t they look tasty and appealing!
Apples for the birds
I went indoors and 30 minutes later I noticed the top apple had gone. I went outside to take a look. It had dissolved into thin air – not a fragment in sight!
Two hours later I was eating my lunch when I saw a large Wood pigeon land on the apple on the left which shot into the air, broke in two and fell on the ground. The pigeon was rather flustered about the whole wobbly perch thing and flew away.
I went into the garden yet again and put the two pieces of apple on the feeding tray. Almost immediately a squirrel appeared – the pieces of apple disappeared.
Total time to self destruction – 2 hours and 30 minutes.
I went inside for apple number 2.
P.S. As Shirl has pointed out in her comment I meant obelisk not pergola. Having looked up pergola I’ve realised I’ve used the wrong word. Doh!
14 comments
I have thought of doing that after reading Shirl’s post too! I have similar iron shepards poles holding the bird feeders so I thought I’d try it, but was concerned about some of the issues you are having! I have the feeders set up so squirrels can’t get up there, but we get big crows and mourning doves, etc. I’m sure they would break and fall on the ground too! But you’ve just reminded me to go and give it a try (first gotta check to see if there are any apples in the fridge!)…I’ll let ya know:)
Love the apples – the birds seem to really like these – I was amazed to see the Blue Tits in our garden tucking in – thought it was more of a Blackbird thing! Miranda
EG … It just proves the theory “if you build it, they will come !!” LOL
It might be a case of third time lucky. I do not have a feeder that lends itself to Shirl’s idea, so my birds are getting sliced apples at the moment which they enjoy. The squirrels often get there first though. I hope that the pigeon has recovered from the shock.
Excellent! I’m delighted you’ve given it a try :-D
Ah… perhaps someone else puts them on their pergola. I use them on my metal obelisks that would have been sored in the shed otherwise. It does work a treat. I usually core mine and put them through the spike. The birds then eat from the centre and they stay up longer. I’ve never had the pigeons go near them or seen squirrels either – I’ve been lucky it seems.
Funnily enough today I had a couple of pears that were past their best for us so I cored and did the same with them. They were very popular I also cut another into chunks and scattered it on the ground. We went out for a few hours and they had all vanished when we returned! There is still some apple though. I guess pears are even more popular :-D
If anyone wants to see this idea in action I have a taken a couple of videos. They can be seen on this posting with a blackcap and a blackbird http://blog.shirlsgardenwatch.co.uk/2007/12/magical-winter-moments.html .
Lol – I love the wildlife in your garden – they are an entertaining crew.
K
What a good idea. They even look appealing to me perched up there on the bird feeding station.
That’s a hoot! I’ll have to try it.
Such a pretty picture! Too bad about the squirrels though.
Leave it to the squirrels to be greedy! :) Great idea that you borrowed from Shirl, I’m sure the birds appreciate it.
I knew the second I read your title that the squirrels would be culprits here. Same thing happened with our pine cone peanut butter & seeds feeder, only I think the timeframe was more like minutes, not hours. Those little furry thieves, they’re unstoppable! Do you think they have better senses of smell than the birds do? Or are they just craftier?
Excellent idea, I shall have a go and see how long mine last as we have no squirrels round here!!
There are so many cats I am in the sad situation of wanting birds to stay away for fear of being ambushed.
During the recent frozen weather, I did put some seed and some bread crumbs out – but that was an emergency situation!
Having read your post, I’ve just been outside to see if there is any place I could stick apples on posts where the birds would be safe . . . no . . . but I’ll save the idea, none the less.
Lucy
This IS a great idea. My metal bird bath holder has perfect open ends for apples (the bird bath itself has been sitting on my deck in winter as the heating element lays better on a stable surface). My squirrels aren’t wild about apples, but SOMEone should be…
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