Pavlov's, uh, bird ?

[Bassbob]

So you may remember my backyard is awash with bird feeders and birdbaths and so on. My location is such that we attract a wide variety of typically, somewhat rare birds.

Anyway, at my wife's insistence, when I go to put the feeders out for the day I am required to press the button on her Millenium Falcon which starts 1:15 of the Star Wars theme. This started about a year ago and as a result all these birds understand what is coming when they hear the Millenium Falcon start it's song. I have tested this by opening the back door and playing the song and then just sitting there and watching. Sure enough the yard starts filling up with Cardinals, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Cowbirds, Starlings, Finches and what not.

Pretty cool.

 

[SaltyMonkey]

This will complete your thread.

 

[Snake45]

This will complete your thread.
View attachment 42483

THAT doesn't sound too hard.

 

[SimonRL]

So you may remember my backyard is awash with bird feeders and birdbaths and so on. My location is such that we attract a wide variety of typically, somewhat rare birds.

Anyway, at my wife's insistence, when I go to put the feeders out for the day I am required to press the button on her Millenium Falcon which starts 1:15 of the Star Wars theme. This started about a year ago and as a result all these birds understand what is coming when they hear the Millenium Falcon start it's song. I have tested this by opening the back door and playing the song and then just sitting there and watching. Sure enough the yard starts filling up with Cardinals, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Cowbirds, Starlings, Finches and what not.

Pretty cool.

We do too, sans the Millennium Falcon. Any time my wife or I step outside the back door all the birds come down to see if we’re going to restock the buffet (which is never empty). Last night we had moved all the feeders down because we had the sprinklers on and don’t like the seed to get wet. A while later we heard a noise and looked out our back door to see a big raccoon expertly take the top off our squirrel proof feeder, empty it and then eat all the peanut butter from a woodpecker feeder for dessert. We’re an equal opportunity feeder and and just as happy to watch the possums and raccoons as we are the birds.

 

[Bassbob]

We do too, sans the Millennium Falcon. Any time my wife or I step outside the back door all the birds come down to see if we’re going to restock the buffet (which is never empty). Last night we had moved all the feeders down because we had the sprinklers on and don’t like the seed to get wet. A while later we heard a noise and looked out our back door to see a big raccoon expertly take the top off our squirrel proof feeder, empty it and then eat all the peanut butter from a woodpecker feeder for dessert. We’re an equal opportunity feeder and and just as happy to watch the possums and raccoons as we are the birds.

Yeah we are too, but I don't want them eating from my bird feeders. I put them up at night and I don't put them out if it's raining. I feed the squirrels corn and they are ever present underneath the feeders, which all have baffles on them. The coons will go right over those baffles so I just put them away when it gets dark.

We also throw scraps over the hillside for the coons and vegetables and stuff on the hillside on the other side of my shop for the groundhogs. The hillside leads down to the river bank as you can see here. About 12' to the right of that feeder is my shop, which is on 4' piers. It's 12' wide and 20' long. On the other side of that used to be the property line until I bought the house next door. Now the property line is a couple hundred yards further out. The hillside and river bank runs the length of both properties. The coons get fed on the other side of that chain link fence and the groundhogs live on the hillside about 150 yards to the right.