Clean-Up Crew

by Linda Frazier
(Midlothian, VA)

My Mom is an 84 year old widow in Virginia who loves to sit at her dining room window and watch the huge variety of birds (and other animals) visiting the feeders we have stationed there. Being the very frugal person that she is, she shops at discount stores to purchase her bird feed and watches for sales on such things as suet cakes and deer corn. The many visitors to feeders and feeding areas in her yard include white-tail deer, fox, squirrels, turkey, bluebirds, mockingbirds, chickadee, finch, hummingbirds, crows, cardinals, woodpeckers, etc. They all flock to the feeders or feeding areas and either eat the seed and corn directly or shake the feeders for those who desire their food on the ground. After all are done, the last species to appear is always the mourning doves. They waddle in ever-increasing circles to gather the remainder of the feed and seeds, thus we have very aptly named them "the clean-up crew."