In my previous post, I pronounced my personal penchant for pretty branches as preferred perches…sorry…the allure of alliteration strikes again!

Well, imagine my delight when I was driving though my neighborhood Wednesday evening and saw that a dead tree had fallen, leaving branches littering the ground.  I could hardly wait ’til daylight!  As soon as the sun was up, I pulled on my boots and camo coat and drove out to this treasure trove of bird perches.

I confess a few neighbors gave me strange glances.  I’m not sure if it was because of the huge smile plastered on my face (seriously – think kid in a candy shop!) or if it was simply the sight of me maneuvering rather large limbs into my bright yellow Bug. Or, perhaps they were secretly thinking, “Drat!  She beat me to the dead branch stash!”

Anyway, with the mission accomplished, I returned home and wasted no time in bungee cording a wish-bone shaped branch to the vertical branch I had put up over the weekend. Here’s a picture so you can get an idea of what the crazy contraption looked like.

I spread a little Bark Butter on the back of the branches, and in no time at all, the birds began to arrive.

This Bluebird and Mockingbird sampled the fare on the horizontal branch…

…and this Yellow-rumped Warbler and Carolina Wren investigated the diagonal branch.

The Red-Bellied Woodpecker was the Goldilocks of the group.  First he tried out the horizontal branch…

…then he hung out and ate from the bottom of the diagonal section…

…and then he perched on the side of the vertical branch.

Unlike Goldilocks, he decided they were all “just right.”  Seems like I wasn’t the only kid in a candy shop!