Squirrel conspiracy

Bill Stock wrote:

"Ka30P" wrote in message
...
When my parents lived in Central Oregon they put out peanuts for the
squirrels
and the blue jays, who they nicknamed, The Blues Brothers. They fed them
on the
deck off the kitchen. If my parents decided to sleep in on a Sunday the
blue
jays would hang out under their bedroom window and set up a racket to
wake
them
up to start the morning's peanut delivery.

In our case it's the Cardinals. They come up to the door and start
cheaping for their peanuts. If you don't respond quickly enough, the male
breaks out into one of his many songs. Even the sparrows have gotten into
the act this year, some days there must be 30 of them sitting in the tree
waiting for
their handout. The Jays are few and far between (West Nile), but there is
one who occasionally screams for his peanuts.

There's a world of difference between a Cardinal, singing for his supper
(OK, breakfast, but that destroys both the alliteration and the allusion),
and a Jay screaming for it. Jays are really beautiful but they're not very
good neighbors. Cardinals in the morning are definitely one of the (few)
things I miss about Ontario. Funny thing is, I've never actually found many
birds eating peanuts - we must be spending too much money on the other
food, only the best quality sunflower seeds for them...
--
derek