During a spring cleaning of my pantry I decided it was time to address the surplus of oat, buckwheat and flax seed I have from my previous life as a sometimes granola-baker. The solution I came up with was to make a bird seed blend. I recently read that there are 300 species of native and migratory birds in Istanbul. The back of our apartment faces a lovely wooded courtyard so I assume there are probably some sparrows and whatnot, but for the most part the birds I see are pigeons, seagulls and the occasional magpie. The magpies are extremely resourceful and clever. It is common for people to put out dog and cat food for the street animals and the magpies will seek it out and polish off the whole bowl. I have even watched groups of them menace and intimidate big dogs into abandoning their meals so that they may dine. The seagulls have their own hustle, they follow along the ferry waiting for people to throw pieces of simit -the Turkish answer to a bagel- to them. My dad was visiting once and he marveled at how much energy they expend just trying to get one piece of simit. Turks and tourists alike love to engage with the seagulls and I think for the seagulls it must be a bit of game as well. In other words, those birds don’t seem to need my help finding a meal.

My sights were set on the pigeons. I set out a bowl of oats, buckwheat, flax, and chia seeds. They liked the oats and buckwheat but were not so keen on the seeds. One morning I heard what sounded like a fair number of them jockeying for position, their wings flapping and their tiny beaks “tinking” away on the bowl. Much to my delight I discovered that I am not the only pigeon feeder in the neighborhood. The elderly woman across from me scatters feed on her balcony and leaves a bowl of water for them. Although when she saw me admiring the birds I gave a friendly wave and she closed her door and and then her drapes. The woman below her leaves a bowl of seeds just inside her window and the brave little birds peck at it from the sill. We will never reach that level of bird feeding as Jefri is already wildly offended at their presence outside the bedroom window.

Note:

The pigeon feed experiment has drawn to a close. I really enjoyed their company, but my elderly downstairs neighbor did not. If there is one thing you don’t mess with it’s a Turkish woman and her clean home.  She said the windowsill was getting dirty and used the word pislik which means dirt or filth. I guess Jefri wasn’t alone in being offended by the little pigeons.