Photo by Amee Fairbank-Brown on Unsplash

Squirrels raid the bird feeders,
fix themselves against the mesh
while finches, cardinals, and jays
crowd the branches of cherry and
mountain ash, watch as the
feeders diminish their supply.

The woman on Utube carried food
each day to fill depressions in
rocks and small receptacles
among her sheltered spaces.
I copied her, heaped wide dishes
and placed them by the great pine
and around the garden.

Daybreak showed the first result,
squirrel clinging upside down,
claws spread wide on the mesh side
of the big tube feeder,
his thighs already plump as
saddle bags packed with campers
blankets. Companions came to
join him.

As daylight grew that morning
and saucers came plain into view
two bluejays waded in the seeds
beside the pine,
and I planned a second trip his week.

May 2012