You wouldn’t think one so small would be such a picky eater or know the difference in brands. After all, food is food. (Don’t get riled. I do know that food is not food and sometimes brand names matter.)
Anyway, there is one particular brand of food I buy at Wal Mart. However, due to having COVID and isolating, I didn’t leave the house for a month. Of course, in that time I ran out of the one particular brand of food I buy.
When I was over COVID and able to go out I didn’t feel like making the 30 minute trip to Wal Mart so I went to our local Redners which is a three minute drive from our houise.
The had the food I wanted, but not the brand. Well, this will have to do until I get out. I bought a bag, opened it, and dished some out.
Let’s just say I didn’t make any friends by doing that. Where I had many diners and many varieties I now had few and the same ones over and over. Even they were not happy as I was able to tell by the food that was being thrown about.
Every now and then I would even get a reproachful look telling me that this food is not up to standard and I needed to get the good stuff back.
Well. last week Kathy and went to Wal Mart and bought three bags of the desired food.

The feeder is now filled with the good stuff.

We now have happy birds. (wasn’t fast enough to get a group shot.)




It’s hard keeping our animal friends happy. Richard eats dry dog food but has been on soft food for two weeks, following his dental. I keep a canned version on hand to hide pills in. Unfortunately, the brand is out of stock everywhere. I have found some alternatives, but look forward to the day we can get the usual cans.
We had that problem with cat food a while back. All stores were out of stock. We, as well as the cats, were glad once shipments started coming back in.
It’s all about patience.
I love the way you delay the reveal. Because I’m a bit familiar with your style now, I was wondering if it was cat food. I had forgotten about the birds and the show they put on at the feeders. Those guys can’t be too choosey, but it is something that you know their preferences.
I am probably projecting what they prefer but hey, isn’t that what writers do?
Good buildup to the reveal! Nice to be able to feed the birds!
We do enjoy watching them at the feeder.
I loved reading this and visualizing those birds pecking and tossing aside the undesired seeds. Bird feeders are always fun!
They provide a better show than what is on TV.
I also love the build-up. I read the paragraph about the “diners” a few times, thinking maybe I missed something about stocking a restaurant. Then I scrolled down and laughed out loud! The birds! Of course! It makes me want to go back and read it again! Thanks for sharing!
We do enjoy watching the birds, and an occasional squirrel, at the feeder.
Bob, you did it again. Your clever way of writing had me thinking all along and then came the big reveal! Oh my, I did not see that coming so I reread and wondered why my neighbors’ feeders are not drawing the rabbits to get the surplus strewn on the ground.
Carol, we have noticed that much of the seed that is thrown to the ground is eaten by other birds. I guess those doing the throwing are taking care of their friends.
I loved this post. Like some of the other commenters, I didn’t see it coming, and thought it was about little kiddos. I maybe suspected something a couple of paragraphs in, but birds? No way would I have figured that one out. Your photographs are amazing. At some point we’ll have to put our bird feeder back – our town had banned them for a while because there were viruses going through the avian population, and they were trying to curb it…
We had about 4 months where we were not permitted to put feeders out because of the viruses. Thankfully, that has now been lifted and we are once again able to enjoy our feathered friends.
Oh well played, my good man! I just knew, KNEW it was going to be about your furry fiends (not a misspell), not your feathered ones. Thought they wouldn’t care huh? Now you know better. Kudos!
My furry fiends are just as picky. Chicken only, please. Oh, and whatever we are eating.