The birdfeeder had a small problem

So... when I built our birdfeeder, I knew there was a small problem.  That is... I knew that there were certain structural weaknesses in it that hadn't worked out the way I had hoped; and those weaknesses meant that the birdfeeder could be wrecked easily, should something happen to it.

And the story is this:
The European Starlings, and their companion blackbirds, were really annoying.  A) because they ate all the birdseed in under a week.  B) because, after eating said birdfeed, they said "thankyou" all over the railing of our deck.  (No, our cedar deck is not a natural white colour!)
So I decided to move the birdfeeder away from our deck, seeing as it is now Spring, and I wanted use of our deck.
So I brought the feeder to another location in our yard, and started hammering the rod that it sat on into the ground.  I wasn't being too careful, as I was kindof annoyed at the birds, and had half a mind of kiyboshing the whole idea.
Anyway, I wasn't being too careful, and the birdfeeder popped off of the rod it was sitting on, as I hammered it into the ground, and the birdfeeder fell to the ground and broke into about 10 different pieces.
So I said, "Well, that settles it!"
And threw it into the garbage. 
The garbage truck came and took it away.

So. Goodbye my European friends.  Goodbye.

(we'll see if any other birds still go for the suet feeders which still remain...)

A small fact:  European Starlings were introduced to America buy Shakespearean Society members who wanted to introduce all the birds mentioned in Shakespeares writing.  - Great Idea, eh? - Now they are one of the most common birds in southern Ontario, and swarm your bird feeders in an annoying fashion.

We may have a problem

This past week were somewhat excited to see that the bird seed in our birdfeeder was being eaten a little more quickly.  But we hadn't seen any birds yet because we'd been at work all day.  Yet, all week, we witnessed that the bird seed went from being FULL, to being 3/4 full, to 1/2 full, to 1/4 full, and now it may soon disappear.
Which should be a good thing.  But today we saw what the birds were, and now we're wondering, if we need to do something.
It seems that our feeder has been discovered by a good number of European Starlings.  Which are certainly colourful (with purple and green, and brown, and white, and a yellow beak) but they are also certainly hungry.  They're also a medium sized bird (like jays and whatnot) so I fear that if we let them stick around, we will not see any other birds.
So the problem is... Do we keep feeding them? or do we stop putting seed in the birdfeeder?  Or is there another option?  Should we be worried about not seeing any other birds?

Springtime

As you can tell by the blog update, I'm getting really excited for Spring!  I cannot wait for warmer weather and sunshine!  I'm sick of being stuck inside and definitely sick of all the snow we have (nevermind that we've really only had a ton of snow for the last couple weeks.....).  I just want to be able to walk around without putting on hundreds of layers and still being cold.  Anyways, so that's what's been on my mind lately, probably because the temperatures have been starting to rise.  And since we've decided not to go away for March Break, here's to hoping that it's actually a nice week in Ontario too!   And as you can tell from this picture, Dave is also getting excited for Spring too!