The tree men showed up early this morning to spray our trees against pine beetles and aphids on the spruce.

We decided I needed to move the hummingbird feeders so the little birds didn't get sprayed. Easier said than done. There were about 30 birds buzzing around behind my house and removing the feeders didn't have any effect - they just stayed around looking for them.



So I took the feeders back outside and moved them toward the front yard, hanging them from the trees along the river where we weren't going to spray. Several of the birds found them, but many kept hanging around where the feeders usually are, carrying on. Finally, I got the water hose and sprayed it at them, pushing them away from the back yard. This kind of worked - they left the immediate area for a few moments and some found the relocated feeders. It reminded me of how I imagine it would be to try to herd cats.



Once the smell of the spray got around, they all disappeared for awhile, but now they are back. I'm praying that they're going to be okay. We didn't spray where most of their nests probably are, and there were a couple of trees we skipped over because the birds were hanging out in them and there was no way to get them to move; spraying the tree with the hose would make it too wet for the spray to stick.

When they're done, I always give the tree guys a couple of cans of pop to get the taste of the spray out of their mouth. This year it was root beer. They acted really touched by it.