[Birdtalk] The Peanut in the Hedgehog

[Kristin Purdy]

The combination of new snow and the calendar's turning over to December 
struck my daughter, Stephanie, with a burst of Christmas spirit. Yesterday, 
she dug out the boxes of decorations and dressed the house in its holiday 
garb.



"Hey, Mom!" she called this morning, "Evidently the jays found the boot 
scraper last year, because there's a peanut stuck in it."



Steph was talking about the snowman-themed boot scraper that holds a 
hedgehog sphere of stiff bristles for cleaning snow and mud from boots 
before the wearer enters the house. Last year, it sat on the front porch 
during the holidays. I doubt it was ever used to scrape boots, but it was 
good to see the hedgehog didn't go to waste. Securely lodged in the brown 
bristles was a whole unshelled peanut, the kind I feed to the jays and 
magpies. I've seen the birds cache peanuts in every conceivable place in my 
neighbor's and my yards, but little did I realize they would stuff one in my 
hedgehog!



Think your bird knowledge isn't rubbing off on your loved ones? It is, even 
if they sigh heavily and roll their eyes every time you share some bit of 
bird lore with them. One day your teenager will tell you there's a peanut in 
your hedgehog and how it got there, and you'll know your efforts are not in 
vain.



Kris