"baited Titmouse"
Christmas 1963 was a day that changed my life. For Christmas, I receive a book from my father (who was a life-long breeder of exotic birds) titled “Hand Taming Wild Birds”, written by Alfred G. Martin. In this book Alfred described how to build bird feeders, what type of seed to use, and how to “hand tame” birds such as Chickadees and Nuthatches and others.
I remember vividly the pure joy I felt when the first Chickadee landed on my hand. In fact, I was so thrilled that I filled up my dad’s “Brownie” camera with pictures of these birds hand-feeding. I was happy, he wasn’t. It did not take long for me to buy my own SLR camera (an Edixa 35mm). That contributed to my life long desire to document wild birds, a desire I am thankful I still have.
Back in those days, people were not so militantly opinionated about feeding wild birds! The derogatory term “baiting” has been coined to leave one with the impression that it’s a despicable act, a selfish deed performed only by morons with the sole intent of benefiting from an image. Currently I have several million images of owls and hawks. Do I really need more raptor images? Duhh, I think not, I have plenty. On the same token, do I need more humming bird images? Chickadees, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Nuthatch, ducks…. These are all birds that I feed – and I feed them for a reason: they are hungry.
Here’s a cold hard fact: I have fed birds for 45 years, and will continue to do so. If it bothers you to see me feeding a bird, jump back in your gas guzzling jerkmobile, and get out of Dodge. Make someone else fodder for your self-righteous cause. End of subject for me.
Oh, and by the way, just outside of the image frame (in the above pic) is a nice bowl of juicy, unsalted peanuts. Mr. T. Mouse was quite thankful! He also suggested that if you don’t like it – go pound salt, or better yet get some more nuts, nutcase.
"baited Titmouse"
Christmas 1963 was a day that changed my life. For Christmas, I receive a book from my father (who was a life-long breeder of exotic birds) titled “Hand Taming Wild Birds”, written by Alfred G. Martin. In this book Alfred described how to build bird feeders, what type of seed to use, and how to “hand tame” birds such as Chickadees and Nuthatches and others.
I remember vividly the pure joy I felt when the first Chickadee landed on my hand. In fact, I was so thrilled that I filled up my dad’s “Brownie” camera with pictures of these birds hand-feeding. I was happy, he wasn’t. It did not take long for me to buy my own SLR camera (an Edixa 35mm). That contributed to my life long desire to document wild birds, a desire I am thankful I still have.
Back in those days, people were not so militantly opinionated about feeding wild birds! The derogatory term “baiting” has been coined to leave one with the impression that it’s a despicable act, a selfish deed performed only by morons with the sole intent of benefiting from an image. Currently I have several million images of owls and hawks. Do I really need more raptor images? Duhh, I think not, I have plenty. On the same token, do I need more humming bird images? Chickadees, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Nuthatch, ducks…. These are all birds that I feed – and I feed them for a reason: they are hungry.
Here’s a cold hard fact: I have fed birds for 45 years, and will continue to do so. If it bothers you to see me feeding a bird, jump back in your gas guzzling jerkmobile, and get out of Dodge. Make someone else fodder for your self-righteous cause. End of subject for me.
Oh, and by the way, just outside of the image frame (in the above pic) is a nice bowl of juicy, unsalted peanuts. Mr. T. Mouse was quite thankful! He also suggested that if you don’t like it – go pound salt, or better yet get some more nuts, nutcase.