The Birds

Recently, a valued reader of The Nearly Constant Gardener, April, who also happens to be yet another cousin-in-law of the blogger, posed a worthwhile question in "Comments" that I would like address. April asked if we've had any problems with birds in the garden and what can be done about them. I can promise you that I would certainly have mentioned any bird damage or vandalism that has occurred since the inception of this blog.

The truth is a couple of summers ago we did have a bird issue. We have chickens, which are, in fact, birds. That means we provide a constant source of chicken feed, which is, in fact, bird food. We have a lot of birds in our backyard. Some birds, probably grackles (an appropriately unappealing name), punctured tomatoes with their beaks. This was every bit as irritating as squirrel damage because it completely ruined the fruit.

The key to solving this problem was understanding what the birds were after. They weren't eating the fruit, just poking it, and presumably, drinking the juice. In short, they were after water.

So, rather than opening hostilities with these feathered pests, I went against my instincts and actually accommodated them with this:

Our green birdbath with our Czech flag yard art in the background

It really has solved the problem. Since we set this up, we have not had a single bird-puncture wound in any fruit or vegetable. Hopefully, I'm not jinxing it by posting all this.