The "Hey, take it easy .......... there's enough sugar for everyone!" Story

The Sugar Bird

It was an ordinary day.  Can't take my eyes off the myriad of little black and yellow birds that line the concrete wall on the deck of our villa in St. Martin.  When we arrived we noticed two small brown saucers on the wall at the edge of the concrete deck.  Right away we knew what their purpose was.  For years we have been feeding the sugar birds during our vacations to the island.  The sugar bird, also known as the Bananaquit, is a small bright colored tropical American songbird with a curved bill for sucking nectar.  And, they love granulated sugar.  Actually purchased a 2 1/2 pound bag of sugar on our first trip to the grocery store the second day we were on the island.  Five days later we found we were going to need more sugar.  Seems the few sugar birds that showed up when we filled the saucers after arrival must have spread the word or chirped the notice that the sugar had arrived at Villa Jeluca.  In no time we had over a dozen or more birds.  We then put a small clear glass cup next to the plates to supply the birds with water.  Shortly Carol noticed that they must have tipped the cup, since the water was all over the wall.  She refilled it and soon we saw why the water was on the wall.

Waiting in line for a bath!

They were using it to take a bath.  Water was flying in every direction as they washed their feathers.  Naturally had to be clean in order to eat the pure white sugar.  Then the small black birds with red breasts arrived and fought their way onto the plates of sugar and the cup of water for bathing.  And then ........ as I was relaxing in a chair next to the wall I noticed all the birds had disappeared.  I then saw the reason.  There sitting on the wall was a rather large thrush which was almost three times the size of the smaller birds.  He tried the granular sugar and realized he also enjoyed it.  After feeding and drinking he took flight and the sugar birds returned.  They didn't want to contend with any bird that was probably higher up the food chain then they were.  We have been thoroughly enjoying our constant companions, but find we will need to make a few more trips to the store for sugar.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.