For the birds

Apparently I planted dill so all the birds in the neighborhood could enjoy its wondrousness.  It had been doing so well, nearly ready to start using for pickling (and other such goodness), and in a flash it was gone again!  Large stalks chewed down to nothing.  These were hungry birds, and no wonder, if I was on the endangered species list, I’d want to binge-eat too. (I’m pretending these were adorable little snowy plovers, not just any average dill-stealing species.)

Well, at least it has been enjoyed by someone[thing].  And maybe I kept them from extinction; perhaps dill was the key to unlocking that door.*  So, back to the drawing board.  If you have any tips for keeping birds out of one’s planter boxes on one’s second floor patio, do pass on!

photo by Laura Erickson

*For all of my environmentally/ecology-minded friends out there, please note that I don’t mean to be flip about the plight of the Western Snowy Plover–or any endangered species, for that matter–but merely trying to find a silver lining amidst the dark cloud of some much loved, busted up dill.