Moving target

Outside my kitchen window is a big camellia bush. It's covered with bright magenta blooms in early spring, and the rest of the year, it provides shelter and food for a variety of birds. The chickadees are especially entertaining. Hung from a branch is a small feeder, which I made from a round Glad container, hung by pale green ribbons (my sister's design).

Today, there's a group of young birds trying to figure out how exactly to get to the seed. The small feeder moves whenever birds feet touch it, a bit of a moving landing pad. Plus the three ribbons are close together, so they can't just fly in and land.

I watched one bird hop from branch to branch, trying to get to the food without actually having to touch the feeder. He gave the closest leaf a couple of jabs, then flew off in disgust.

But by the time I finished washing the dishes, they'd figured it out.