Hi Molie, ahh...more water envy. Great pictures of a great bird! My suggestions for bird guides: In paperback, I like 'The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America' which Claire recommended to me a few years ago. I like Sibley's very much because it shows drawings of birds with their changing plumage at various stages of development. That one feature of Sibley's Guide has helped me often. (but I still confuse little brown birds) When out in the field looking for eagles, ospreys and everything else the Connecticut River offers, I bring my iPod Touch because it fits in a shirt pocket and I loaded it with two apps from the iTunes Store - 'iBird North' and 'The Ultimate Audubon New England Field Guide'. If you wanted one app for your iPhone for the sake of portability, I suggest the Audubon NE Guide because it offers birds, mammals, fish, plants,butterflies, spiders & insects, wildflowers, trees, seashells, and the natural history of New England. Plus, it has multiple voices of most birds and animals,their ranges, etc. It is the most complete guide I've seen, and the pictures and sounds are crystal clear throughout each category. The iTunes App Store lists it as"Audubon Nature New England", if you're interested. "5 Top Bird Guides for iPhone" Jane

Claire, very inventive. That idea of putting in the wire fencing down the side of the house and then putting rambling roses on stilts running on the top is a riot! I used to love your rose arch so I hope this becomes a great substitute. It looks great so far. And to surround the tasty phlox with the phlox the critters don’t like to eat, genius...lol. Hope that works out. From a distance, that green fencing is not very noticeable. That is such a sweet birdhouse, teapot. Your 8 year old must be so excited to see birds and babies in it! It's such a positive lesson in seeing the rewards from making something with your own hands, to actually end up with birds in it. Gee, I didn’t know you didn’t have turkeys, Claire, but I guess Jane may pick up the slack in that area. How fun! Hope they stick around, Jane. Sorry Jane, didn’t mean to burst your bubble with the chipmunks. It is really just a rumor with no basis in fact that I am aware of…..how’s that, better? (g)

No bunnies here even though we have clover. Years ago our cat used to catch the babies and leave them at the back door .... that was sad. Also no coyotes in the last few years. There are woodchucks and mice/rats along the river but probably better hunting elsewhere. I do see the Sweat green bees like the one you photographed, Jane, among all the others in the gardens. And sadly, we also have the dreaded Greenhead flies. Those monsters are making it difficult to work in the garden, especially in the afternoon, without long pants and sleeves. Many mornings a Black-crowned Night-Heron comes to fish for breakfast along the river. The one from yesterday looked particularly "blue". He'll stand a long time at the edge of the dock waiting for the glimmer of fish. He fishes from the edge of the river. I love to watch him "creep" along the bank towards the best spot. The white plume coming off the top of his head.... Finally... a dove nestled into the top of the garden shed roof .... between the Black Mulberry tree behind him and the feeders below.

Gayle, I haven't found many books specific to Oklahoma, but then I am way down south in southern Oklahoma and we don't have a lot of bookstores here either. Two books I purchased from a bookstore in OKC in the late-1990s and used quite a bit were by Doyle McCoy and were published by University of Oklahoma Press in Norman, Oklahoma. They were: Roadside Trees and Shrubs of Oklahoma, and Roadside Wild Fruits of Oklahoma. They had copyright dates of 1981. I don't know if they are still available. Here's some other books I used. You will notice that many of them have the word 'Texas' in the title. They have been just as useful for me here in Oklahoma as they were when I lived in Texas since the prairie plants are virtuallly the same. They include: National Audubon Society Nature Guide: Grasslands by Lauren Brown, 1997, 3rd printing, Alfred A. Knopf Wildflowers of Texas, 1984, Shearer Publishing, Bryan, Texas The Grasses of Texas, 1975, F. W. Gould, Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas Texas Range Plants by S. J. Hatch and J. Pluhar, 1993, Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas Taylor's Guide to Natural Gardenimng, by R. Holmes, 1993, Houghton, Mifflin. Wildflower Handbook, The National Wildflower Research Center, Texas Monthly Press, Austin, Texas, 1989 A Field Guide to Texas Trees by Benny Simpson, 1989, Texas Monthly Press, Austin, Texas Texas Range Grasses by B. C. Tharp. Probably out of print. Mine is a very old edition from 1952. University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas. Trees, Shrubs and Woody Vines of the Southwest, 1960. Probably out of print. I got mine at a Half-Price Books Store in the D-FW area. University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas. The following books are by Sally Wasowski and Andy Wasowski. They all related to landscaping with native plants. I love them. The Wasowskis may have more current books available also. Native Texas Plants, Landscaping Region by Region, 1989, Texas Monthly Press, Austin, Yexas Native Texas Gardens, 1997, Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, Texas Landscaping Revolution: Garden With Mother Nature, Not Against Her, 2000, Lincolnwood Contemporary Books My FAVORITE native plant book is not a book. It is the Noble Foundation Website. In case you are not familiar with it, the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation is based in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and does amazing work with native Oklahoma plants and agricultural/horticultural issues. They usually have books available on their website too. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Noble Foundation Website, Grass ID Page