Greetings from Central Texas! I've been a casual bird fan all of my life. I usually put out feeders and home and at work and a bird bath or two.
I live in a newly built subdivision near Austin, Texas. It's full of similar looking small to medium non-descript houses. We were all given two nearly dead trees and three bushes by the developer.
I put my feeders out on shepherd's hooks when I first moved in 3.5 years ago. No birds partook of my offerings. It wasn't until last year that a few birds started showing up. I was so excited! I didn't care that they were common "trash" birds that most people attempted to drive off (i.e. doves, grackles, and starlings).
During the great storm in February of this year, I found several dead, frozen solid birds on my front porch. I jumped into action and made a rustic suet from supplies I had on hand--some old bird seed, peanut butter, pecans, raisins, oats, flour, and cornmeal. I also put out water. I instantly had hundreds if not a thousand cold starving birds of many species on my porch. Their droppings ultimately stained my porch permanently, but I didn't care!
That awoke my love of birds all over again. Unfortunately the storm killed 100% of my landscaping including my grass, so I'm starting from ground zero, but I still have lots of birds flocking to my feeders!
I live in a newly built subdivision near Austin, Texas. It's full of similar looking small to medium non-descript houses. We were all given two nearly dead trees and three bushes by the developer.
I put my feeders out on shepherd's hooks when I first moved in 3.5 years ago. No birds partook of my offerings. It wasn't until last year that a few birds started showing up. I was so excited! I didn't care that they were common "trash" birds that most people attempted to drive off (i.e. doves, grackles, and starlings).
During the great storm in February of this year, I found several dead, frozen solid birds on my front porch. I jumped into action and made a rustic suet from supplies I had on hand--some old bird seed, peanut butter, pecans, raisins, oats, flour, and cornmeal. I also put out water. I instantly had hundreds if not a thousand cold starving birds of many species on my porch. Their droppings ultimately stained my porch permanently, but I didn't care!
That awoke my love of birds all over again. Unfortunately the storm killed 100% of my landscaping including my grass, so I'm starting from ground zero, but I still have lots of birds flocking to my feeders!
