All the birdfeed and feeders are kept in the shed at the back of the nature center. Many of the feeders are brought in at the close of business each day so they do not become an overnight attractive nuisance to raccoons, deer, or bears.
To open the lock on the door of the shed: You should memorize the combination. It is a typical middle-school type combination lock. Although the lock was purchased new in July 2018, it is hard to open and close. You may have to push/pull with enthusiasm!
- Get the combination from PEEC’s Visitor Services Manager when you sign up as a bird feeding volunteer.
- If you forget the combination and the nature center is open, go inside and ask a staff member.
- If you run out of options, call Bob Walker on his cell phone at 505-690-2263.
Find feeders hanging from the rafters. The feeders that you will most likely need to bring out each morning are one or two suet feeders, and one to three hummingbird feeders, if we are in hummingbird feeding season.
If we are in hummingbird season, the shed is likely to be pretty hot and keeping all the hummingbird juice that warm will make it spoil faster, so LOOK at the juice and decide if it needs to be replaced. It needs replacing if it is full of insects, is cloudy, or otherwise has a lot of debris in it. There is a separate page on cleaning hummingbird feeders.
You may have to make more than one trip out to the wildlife area if there’s more stuff to carry out than you can comfortably carry. Bring out the feeders that were stored overnight, and place them on the hangars in the wildlife area.
Find bird seed on the shelf rack at the back wall of the shed. There are plastic seed containers stored on the next-to-top shelf. There should be a container of mixed seed, a container of thistle seed, and possibly a container of peanuts (if we have any to use).