Evening star., 1947-12-20
This and That
BIZ Charles +. TrdceDeH
"GREENBELT, Md.

Dear Sir:
An assorted number Of birds consisting Of
Carolina wren, q brown creeper, . nuthatch
and one or two downy woodpeckers and several
titmice visit my feeding station ut intervals
during the day.
"Ihe woodpeckers hew at the half-pound
chunks Of s,1et that have lashed to the trees
while the wren picks up chips that fall. The
creeper eats insects+too small for me to flnd
though have looked-that 1t finds in the
bark Of the oaks.
"The nuthatch's burly shoulders and strong
bill give him precedence over all the rest and
none dareS take seed until he has left He
and the titnice eat little suet but prefer the
sunflower seeds from the platform. Neither
eats it there. The nuthatch lodges his in a
crack and hammers it head down. The tit
mouse holds his on a branch with one foot
while he pecks at 1t.
"A family of cardinals were customers of ours
during the summer but have now long been
gone, possibly because Greenbelt Is or s
degrees colder than nearby points
II can't allow the squirrels on the platform
They eat or carry of all the sundower seed
before the birds get chance at It, They also
knock receptacles to the ground. My feeding
platform rests on a post inches in diameter.
IT cut hole in the bottom OF metal waste
basket, slipped 1t over the post, then spiked
the platform to the top of the post and sus-
pended the waste basket from the platform.
1.-The squirrels can't pass the metal basket
but they get their share because many of the
sunfower seeds slip from the beaks Of the
birds and fall to the ground.
"Very truly yours, "A. j. Med"
A matter of or degrees will not deter our
cardinals.
They are found over this entire section the
year around.
Once we saw mother cardinal with bead
rfN l{&l f0ro
derful ladybird
The disappearance of group of cardinals,
ranging from half dozen to two dozen, is still
a mystery.
Almost every neighborhood has an instance
of this One year, or two or three years. the
birds will be around.
Then, for no reason one can see, they dis
appear, and the nome lover Is fortunate II ne
still has pair.
All this time, the same as usual he has good
food out. AS far as he can determine there
are no hawks, owls or prowling animals
other species come as of old, but the red
birds are conspicuous by their absence as the
old saying puts it.
No one should worry too much about this.
Birds have right to migrate for short dis
tances, lust as many species migrate for
astounding distances.
matter of a few degrees of temperature,
however, will have nothing at all to do with
the matter.
Cardinals are not extra sensitive to cold.
They manage the worst of our winters easily.
Seldom is one of them found dead in the cold.
AS a matter of fact especially where people
put out food dead birds seldom are seen in the
winter; not as many, perhaps, as in spring and
summer.
The species that stay here, including those
named by this correspondent, have learned how
to conserve their heat, and they take full ad-
vantage Of the increase in feeding of recent
years.
AS long as they have food regularly they can
stand even the intense sleet and ice, which
fortunately comes not too often. The blue
birds alone of the local winter species suffer
heavily from specially heavy ice storms. Our
cardinals manage - brave the worst OF the
elements provided they have enough food to
give them the heat units they require.
The cardinal is an especially snowy bird in
the snow. While this element seems to set off
all of the wintering songsters it is peculiarly
becoming to the redbirds.
If there are half a dozen of these in the
snow the sight is one worth coming to the
window for; but then, is not one cardinal just
as good, from the viewpoint of something to
see? That is the beauty of bird watching, that
little goes long way-especially when that
Httle IL n redbird.