Leave them alone, buy your own (2 photos)

Larry Hendrick and Merlene Lee place bird feeders along the Finn Hill area of the Hub Trail every fall, providing food for birds, squirrels and other creatures throughout the winter months.

The two friends enjoy nature, walking Hendrick's dog Rocky along the trail and refilling the feeders throughout the winter.

In recent years, however, an increasing number of the bird feeders, many of them made by Hendrick, have been stolen or damaged.

"Just leave them alone…people should let the birds enjoy them and buy their own bird feeders," Hendrick told SooToday, referring to people who may have stolen some of the feeders.

"The generation today don't have time to make anything on their own," said Hendrick, a retiree.

"I spent time making these because I'm a woodworker, and now I've had to go with plastic ones because they were taking the wooden ones I made."

"They're nice feeders, convenient to fill, and I think people are taking them home and hanging them for their own birds," Lee said.

Lee had a wooden bird feeder in her vehicle, but is reluctant to hang it on the Hub Trail because of the increasing thefts and vandalism.

Hendrick said he began placing 20 to 25 bird feeders five years ago.

That number went down to eight three years ago.

Earlier this week, Hendrick and Lee placed four bird feeders on the Hub Trail.

Of those four, two have already gone missing.

Hendrick and Lee would like those who took the bird feeders to return them to where they were.

"It gives us pleasure watching these little things," Lee said as chickadees flew by.

"They're not afraid of us, they wait for us to come around…we love nature and this gives us satisfaction," Hendrick said.

(PHOTO: Merlene Lee and Larry Hendrick want people to stop stealing or vandalizing bird feeders they have placed along the Hub Trail. Darren Taylor/SooToday)