It's 10 C this morning, 15 March 2025; spring is here and winter has come to end. This was a winter we are happy to see the end of, very cold, a lot of snow, and hard on all of us. Right now the garden doesn’t look like much, it's still winter, it's still covered with snow, but soon it will be green and full of flowers, birds will be at the bird bath, life will return to life.
Early April 2024. The crows have returned and are at the bird bath. They bring food with them, from Fay Wong (a Chinese restaurant a block away), then leave it in the water to soften or soak, and then return later to eat. I usually avoid putting food anywhere in the garden, it has resulted in squirrels visiting and they are trouble. I go out in the morning, around 9 a.m., and the crows are waiting for me, I drop a few peanuts (unshelled) in the water and then leave, and this is when the crows swoop down and eat peanuts floating in the bird bath. Don’t get on the wrong side of crows, you’re in big trouble if you do.
Here is how crows eat peanuts: they hold the peanut between their feet and peck at it to break it open, then the peanut is eaten by them.
In the garden, always a visitor, or is it a resident? A crow visits the bird bath and spends some time preening and having time out from his crow's life.
The main thing with a bird bath is to put in clean water everyday, no one (including birds) wants to sit in dirty or shallow water, or drink dirty water. Changing the water will take you all of three or four minutes and is worth the effort. The birds will thank you, too.
