It was a bit of a surprise, although it really shouldn’t be. They usually arrive around the first of May. At least by Mother’s Day. They have already been spotted in Pennsylvania, even as far north as Chicago and parts of Michigan. The hummingbirds are coming.
Since it will only be a couple weeks before they arrive, I guess it’s time to start getting the feeder ready. There are things that need to be done. More than just a casual rinse.
For one, I need some of those plastic flowers. The yellow ones the fit over the holes. Okay, you don’t really need them. But they do narrow the holes a bit and keep some other critters out of them.
The reason I need little plastic yellow flowers is that the ones I have have been chewed by raccoons. Which is another thing I need to do. Find a new place to mount the feeder where the raccoons can’t reach it.
Although your typical trash panda has a reach of only about a foot of so, I swear they can extend their arms at will. Kind of like a furry Inspector Gadget. So this could be a bit of a challenge.
They attacked the feeder with gusto last year. Biting off the little plastic flowers to get at the sweet stuff beneath. I never actually caught them, but I believe they were just titling it back and drinking it. You would think it would make them sticky, but I did not find any sticky raccoons around the neighbourhood. Really, they should be covered with grass clippings and dried leaves, stuck in the syrup covering their fur. But I have yet to spot the culprit.
I did clean the feeder good last year when I brought it in. Which was early, due to the repeated theft of syrup by small masked creatures. So the feeder should only really need that quick rinse. And some new plastic flowers. And a new place to hang.
I am not yet convinced to defeat the raccoons and their go-go gadget arms, but I am determined to try. It’s a bit of a game. I’m determined to prove I’m smarter than a raccoon. They seem to quite easily prove me wrong. But I’m not giving up yet.
So the game is almost afoot, as they say. I’m determined to feed the hummingbirds, not the raccoons. I’ll let you know how it goes.