Summer Feeding Adjustments

Here in the Piedmont it is arguably summertime. We have already reached the 90 degree mark three times in 2009 and hit 85 degrees or more eight times in the last three weeks. With that summer mindset I’ve made all of my adjustments for the hot season ahead. Back in January I offered seven food types. I am now down to two regular products. The core staple is safflower seed which I now expect to run in place of sunflower until the accursed juvenile squirrels get kicked off the territory by their elders (I last counted four animals in the yard!) and then we’ll think about adding some sunflower seed again. I’m also running high-demand suet: I get a spike in consumption every April and May, but there is enough traffic in the even hotter months that I keep the no-melt stuff up. I’ve pulled all peanut products. Peanut pieces and hearts have proven appealing only in winter, and peanut butter is a nuisance in hot weather, and gets wiped out by the squirrels in any case. I am keeping an eye on things so that when parents bring their young to the feeders there will be plenty to eat, and in variety, but otherwise my sole goal is to attract visitors for viewing pleasure as opposed to being the dependable backup food source. That should hold us until October.