In recent weeks, the birds seem to have been getting through a lot of seed. I know on one day they went through 2lb 6oz of black oil sunflower seed – not to mention the nijer seed and the suet – because they emptied both full feeders between dawn and dusk so it was easy to check. So when I got home with a 50lb bag not so long ago, I made a note of when we started using it. And it’s just run out.

These lovely finches - Evening Grosbeaks (above, click to enlarge), closely related to the British Hawfinch – were just two of the birds getting stuck in along with as many as twenty six pins siskins on view together. Anyway, that 50lb/22.7kg bag of seed lasted 25 days – that’s an average of exactly 2lb/0.9kg per day.

The bag cost $59.28/£37.76 from our local pet and feed store – that’s $2.37/£1.49 a day. I think that’s a bargain. There are virtually no flowers here in winter, but there are birds.

By the way, I posted more about bird seed last year, and about our wonderful guaranteed squirrel-proof bird feeders as well.