No Bird in the Hand

I have been so inspired by the photos on Abraham Lincoln's blog (yes, that is really his name), that I finally went out and bought another bird feeder. The first one I had was destroyed by a squirrel. It was a green, metal one with a bar that lowered and hid the seeds when anything heavier than a bird lit on it. How did the squirrel manage?

The new one is a metal & glass rectangular feeder that has several openings where the birds can eat the seeds. It has a sensitive mechanism that lowers metal plates over the openings when anything heavier than a bird sits on it. I have it at the most sensitive setting. I also bought a plastic shield to put over the bird feeder. The wrapping showed the shield tilting when a squirrel deigned to visit, so that he would not be able to reach the feeder.

I placed the feeder in a tree, near a vacated nest, and prepared to shoot some fantastic photos because Abe makes it look so simple. So far, I have filled the feeder three times and I have not seen one bird. I have not even seen a squirrel. The seeds are all gone, but I do not know what is eating them. They are not on the ground under the feeder. Come to think of it, I have not seen very many birds in the yard at all. A hummingbird visited the Turk's Cap one day, and two little birds hopped around on the porch for a few minutes. Maybe I will move the feeder and see what happens.