Destin’s bird feeder: ‘I’m basically a Meals on Wheels for animals’

As she pulled to a stop in the Destin Cinemas parking lot, the pigeons, doves and sparrows flocked to Carmen Fender.

The birds around Destin know that it’s feeding time when they see Fender’s red sport utility vehicle every morning.

“I’ve been feeding them for 16 years now,” Fender said.

Pouring two lines on the pavement quickly separates the seagulls from the flock as they head for the cereal. The rest of the birds head for the seed, ravenously gobbling up the feast before them.

Fender has been on a daily feeding spree around the area’s shopping plazas that sets her back 25 pounds of birdseed and jumbo bags of cereal every day.

Her route includes stopping at eleven different places around Destin to feeds birds, cats and anything else she sees.

“I’m basically Meals On Wheels for animals,” she laughed.

Fender’s love for animals, especially the birds, is what has prompted her to keep feeding them after all those years.

“I feel like we should give back to the planet, since we’ve taken all their trees,” she said.

Each morning, Fender not only leaves her home with seed and cereal in tow, but also carries cat food for strays, corn for ducks and peanuts for squirrels.

When she feeds the birds, Fender tries to be respectful of businesses and cars by feeding them in the open spaces away from the buildings.

The Destin waitress often gets asked how much she spends on feeding the birds. She said that she never keeps track of it and relates it to any other hobby that someone else might pour money into, like boating.

“It’s my private little thing that I do. I enjoy it,” she said.

Her hobby does come with a funny drawback.

“The seagulls follow me from shopping center to shopping center,” she said. “It’s embarrassing.”

For Fender, it is most rewarding when she sees the mother birds feeding their babies with the food she puts out.

“It makes me happy to make them happy,” Fender said.