Who Loves Safflower Seeds??

Welcome to my birding obsession.  One of my favorite parts of the day involves watching the bird feeders on my deck to see who's come to dinner (or breakfast, or lunch, or brunch).  Unfortunately the insane ninja bird feeder assassin squirrels have eaten through the plastic on 2 of my 3 feeders, so at the moment I only have 1 left (but not to worry, there are replacements on my Christmas list!).  So for the time being, I am feeding my feathered friends by putting seeds out on the deck railing in addition to my sole remaining feeder. 

Here is the good news though...I have discovered a secret...squirrels DO NOT like safflower seeds!!  Haha...take that you psycho squirrels!  Apparently, squirrels have much more advanced taste buds than birds do, so to the squirrels the safflower seeds taste bitter while at the same time tasting yummy to the birds!  Although, I must admit I do feel bad for the squirrels now.  They are cute and furry and hungry and though they are sometimes my nemesis, I understand what it's like when you are hungry and you can't get the wrapper off your favorite Kashi bar!

Safflower seed is also the cardinals favorite seed, I've been reading.  The cardinal only comes about once a day to our feeder and doesn't stay very long, so I'm super psyched about these photos I managed to take!  Anyway, here's who's been loving the safflower seeds...

The elusive cardinal!

This is a delightful brunch!

The gang's all here...house finches love to chow down!

Soo red - Mother Nature is amazing!

Ralph's favorite: the Tufted Titmouse
(he swears it's not because of the name)
with 2 house finches