Last updated on February 14th, 2025 at 10:53 pm
I belong to a wonderful birding group on Facebook called Backyard Bird and Wildlife Lovers. The group shares photos of birds, bugs and wildlife that they have taken in their backyard or local area. Sometimes the photos arise from nature trips taken specifically to find that “lifer” shot of a bird never spotted before and we all get to share in that once-in-a-lifetime excitement.
It’s not often that I see a poem devoted to these interests, but then along came a post by member Terry Colby. It describes the joy and the addictive quality of birding, with a humorous nod at how consuming (and expensive) this natural hobby can be.
Terry kindly gave me permission to publish his poem here for you and I added the photos. If you’re a bird feeding fan too, I hope this adds a smile to your day. 🙂
Update: I recently posted on How to Feed Wild Birds Safely with Food Scraps and Homemade Hummingbird Food is a perennial favourite. Also see: Recycled Hummingbird Feeder.
BIRD FEEDING ADDICTION
I thought it would be fun to feed the birds so I bought a feeder from the store. All I wanted was to have one small bird feeder and never buy one feeder more.
Well, I hung the feeder in my backyard and it wasn’t long and the birds began to come. I thought, “If one feeder brings me this much joy two feeders should be twice as fun.”
So I bought another feeder and hung it, not far from feeder number one. And sure enough, I was right, two feeders made feeding the birds twice as much fun.
I added a small bird bath, of which the birds soon became rather fond. When I saw how much the birds liked the water, I decided I’d build a little pond.
I looked at my feeders, bird bath, and pond and thought what more could I possibly need? And then I read about a feeder that they said would bring hummingbirds in to feed.
So I decided to go to the store and buy a hummingbird feeder. Yeah that is what I decided i’d do! But I had learned my lesson about buying feeders and this time bought not one but two.
I decided to buy some native plants and plant them all about. I don’t know what I spent on plants. it was over a thousand dollars of that I don’t have no doubt.
I bought two suet feeders and an oriole feeder so the Baltimore’s might come in to dine. Feeding the birds was costing me so much money and time I realized that I had created a bird feeding Frankenstein.
The next thing I bought was a camera and lens to take pictures of the birds that were now in my yard. I was pretty happy that it cost me no more then it did. For I only maxed out one credit card!
Feeding the birds can be an addiction and that’s just a plain fact. And if you’re not careful in the end you will find you have a bird feeding monkey on your back.
~~ Terry Colby
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