Chewing the Fat

Yesterday I put a big lump of fat into a nylon mesh bag and tied it up in a tree that I can see from my kitchen window. Then I went back inside and waited. Although this was the first time I’ve done this since last winter, within five minutes a group of waxeyes had gathered around to inspect it. Suddenly the dominant male arrived and scattered them. He was not interested in the fat, and as soon as the others were gone he left too. Within ten minutes of the fat being hung one waxeye was pecking at it.

Today I tried to get a shot of the activity around the fat, but it was so chaotic that shot after shot had either blurs or no birds at all. I did catch one of the resident couples getting a moment to themselves. He is head down on top of the fat while she is looking on so wistfully. Not only is she bullied by the alpha male, but also she has to defer to her mate. There was no fat for her.

The bully seems to be the leader of a group of 6 or 8 that have been coming since I put out the sugar water. It’s hard on the two couples that live here.

This afternoon I sawed and stacked a lot of firewood, and now I’m feeling rather delicate.