So what do you get when you put a slice of bread in your backyard at lunchtime? A flock of happy yakkers!
So if you read my previous post you already realize that I have a yard full of European Starlings and their fledglings. The fledglings mission is to yak enough so as to have food shoved down their throats by their parents in hopes of silencing them. It is actually quite amusing to watch. Frantic parents trying to hush their kids with offerings of food.
Not only are they creating quite a bit of racket, but also seem to be creating a shortage of suet not only in my feeders, but also at the local grocery stores (I bought the last 2 econo had just the other day). The racket continues, but it is obvious they are trying to be more self sufficient. This morning they were all along my driveway picking through the freshly mowed lawn. I don’t know if they were getting much to eat, but at least they were making it look good.
When I got home at lunch today the racket was again at full swing. It was now obvious that their feeding attempts earlier this morning did not work out so well. They were hungry. The only problem was that they had cleaned out the suet once again. Since a grocery store trip was not in my short range plans I decided to improvise. Maybe a slice of frozen bread would help. Hey, I have some healthy stuff that I hadn’t yet finished. Okay. I never planned on finishing it so it would be perfect.
So how do you go about feeding a flock of yakkers bread? I don’t know. A google search turned up nothing so I was on my own. A simple toss using a frisbee technique seemed to work pretty well. I didn’t invade their “claimed yardage” too much, but apparently they weren’t expecting to see flying whole grains and even though my toss was accurate to within a few feet of where it was intended they scattered.
So how long does it take for birds to find a new potential food source? About a minute to be precise. I’m kidding. I didn’t count. I just waited, but it wasn’t more than a minute. And once they found it they took to it like a grand opening at McDonald’s. It seemed to be a win win for all since both parental feeding units could stay on the ground with their hungry offspring and I didn’t have to make a trip to the store. Now all I had to do was sit back and watch the show.
And show it was. Besides all the mother, father, fledgling food exchange act there were additional attendees who thought this may be something worth getting a piece of. Be sure to check out the video clip below which shows the feeding frenzy and a chipmunks valiant attempt to claim the slice as his own.
So the conclusion that I scientifically arrived at was that they like it. The bread that is. Eventually, some of the fledglings were even taking their own pecks at it. They were not, however, impressed with my frisbee toss.
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