I feed the birds first thing each day. What began five years ago with one feeder has evolved into two feeders (one in the front yard, the other in the backyard) and a crow station.

Crows will eat most anything (dumpster divers that they are) and two years ago I noticed them stealing the crunchy food I put out for the neighborhood cats. So, I built a little platform for their own serving of cat food (hoping they’d leave my furry friends’ portion alone).

Now, every morning crows perch on the power lines overhead, impatiently waiting for me before descending on the platform and scooping up protein-rich bits. After the big birds fly off, jays, grackles, and starlings swoop in to grab whatever crumbs are left behind.

However, this was not a typical morning. Shortly after feeding I heard the crows making an unusually loud ruckus. So, I stepped back outside to see what the fuss was all about. Boy, was I surprised!

Not only was a White Ibis on their platform daintily eating their cat food but my crows, which clearly outnumbered him, were doing nothing about it. Crows are known bullies so I found this rather interesting. Apparently ibis is above crow in nature’s pecking order. Who knew?

The other thing I found odd was how the ibis knew about the free buffet. I occasionally see ibises in my yard, poking around in the soil looking for bugs and small reptiles. But until today, I hadn’t noticed them near my feeders.

If this keeps up I wonder what kind of feeder I’ll have to build next…