Hi Dawna

Wasn't it wonderful to see one?

I had never seen one until we moved to southern Oklahoma in 1999.

The first time I saw one I was so thrilled that I couldn't stand it.

I see them only a few times a year. There seem to be quite a few of them, but they don't seem to hang around the yard a lot like the cardinals, bluebirds and many other more common birds.

I most commonly see them hanging around the pasture fencerows, sitting on the barbed wire fence's top strands or on the power lines. Every now and then I see them fly. I have seen some females this year but no males, although they surely are around.

Dawn

When we lived in Lone Grove we had one that came to our bird feeder everyday for one summer. We were just feeding regular bird seed for wild birds. At the time I had never heard of them and my first thought was that someone's pet had escaped. After a day or two of seeing it I went to the library and hit the bird books to find it's name. They are gorgeous. I wish one would find it's way to this house. Lucky you.

I needed to have that positive thought today about that house. I learned a few days ago that my neighbor, who lived just in front of me in that house was murdered on Sunday. So sad.

OMG Soonergrandmom,
I'm sorry to hear your neighbor was murdered over the weekend. I read about that. I lived in Ardmore for 12 years and still have quite a few friends in Lone Grove. That is unusual to hear of a murder in a small town like Lone Grove. What a shame. That's so sad...

I'm glad you told me that painted buntings will eat out of a bird feeder. I will fill my feeders today. I don't normally feed the birds during the spring and summer, just during the winter months, but I will start now to hopefully get the bird to take up residence in my area. I think I saw a female painted bunting last week, but wasn't sure what they looked like at the time. After googling them last night, I'm pretty sure it was a female.

Dawn,
I knew we had them in this area because my friend who works for my dentist had shown me some pictures of them at the dentist office, which is in a rural area and very wildlife friendly. She said they just pass through there, and don't stay. But at her house in the mountains in Springer, she said they stay around there. I'm hoping I can entice one to stick around here so I can see it on a regular basis. I really love birds, especially orioles, purple martins, hummingbirds, bluebirds, indigo buntings, and eagles. HaHa. That's a list of my favorites, all of which I saw on a regular basis at my old house, and all of which were in residence on my land except the eagles and indigo buntings. We also had a lot of quail, dove, and turkeys, which are in residence here too.

I was glad to see the painted bunting yesterday because DH had killed a Black Widow spider on the eve of the porch, and I killed another Brown Recluse spider in the bathtub. This makes three fiddlebacks in less than two weeks. Needless to say, I called Orkin this morning. Between the ticks and spiders, I'm a nervous wreck. LOL. My friends would never believe this because I'm normally not afraid of anything, but this many poisonous spiders in such a short period of time is causing me a lot of stress. I want them OUT of my house!
Dawna

SoonerGrandmom,

I am so sorry about the murder of your former neighbor. I hope that law enforcement is able to build a case and arrest and convict whoever took her life. Murder in a small town is always so shocking and I think it is partly because 'everyone knows everyone' and we hate to think that a murderer walks among us, don't we?

Now, how about another positive thought. At a funeral I attended yesterday for a woman who left this earth too soon (41), the minister reminded us that even as we grieve for her here on earth, the Lord and the angels are rejoicing to have her join them there in heaven. That thought gave me comfort and I hope it comforts you also. I do feel so bad for the murdered woman's family and know they are grieving and missing her so very, very much.

Dawna,

I don't usually feed the birds in the summer either, but have been this year and have a huge abundance of them. I feed them mixed birdseed, cracked corn, hen scratch and black oil sunflower seeds, but notice they spend a lot of time in the yard and garden looking for bugs too.

It seems that the painted buntings like all bird seed, but around here they especially love the black oil sunflower seed.

We have about the same birds you have, including eagles (near us, but not nesting on our land....down closer to the river) and orioles. This year we have a LOT of doves, roadrunners, nighthawks, purple martins, cardinals, barn swallows, and killdeer. Just lately I am seeing a few wild turkeys on our place, although I have seen them on larger, wilder (less cultivated) ranches for weeks and weeks now.

I am seeing quite a few birds I don't recognize. When the garden harvest finally slows down, I need to try and figure out what they are.

If you are having a spider problem, check to see if you have cracks and crevices that need to be re-caulked on the exterior. They have to be getting inside somehow, you know?

I hope the exterminators can get all of your poisonous spiders. I haven't seen many black widows this year, for once, and I AM relieved.

I wonder if the constant rain is driving more bugs, including spiders, indoors?

Dawn

I was surprised to see the we have barn swallows here. For some reason, I thought they were only found in northern states. But, I had one visit one year and they are just too cute.

As a city gardener, I don't get too much variety in birds, but I have on occasion had a country cousin come to visit. Like the year the pheasant decided to hang out in the backyard, or the year the mallard female was caught strolling down the sidewalk in front of my house, as though she was just out sightseeing. She could of just been wearing a tophat and carrying a walking stick, twirling it and looking around at the houses, whistling, looking for all the world as though she had not a care in the world. It was just too funny!

Anyway, you guys are so lucky to see a lot of different bird species cause you live outside the city limits.

Susan

Wow what a blessing to have such a gorgeous bird come to your yard! I don't believe I have ever seen one. I would love to have some "good" birds in my yard.
The last few days I have had sparrows so many it rivals Alfred Hitchkok. And we have so many barn swallows, purple martins, Scissor tails, some bird I can't seem to identify...and an occasional grackle which I run off if I see it, robins...just a few of them. No wrens this year and no hummingbirds coming to my feeders. It is strange.

I would love to have Cardinals. Love them. I wonder what is takes to attract them? I put out black sun flower seeds but that didn't work here. Took them to the lake and had cardinals almost eating out of my hands for them. But they also attracted some naughty squirrels.

G.M.

Actually, I am only feeding the finches and hummers this summer but I see a lot of robins working on the bug population in my garden. I am afraid that they will have to take care of it for me. For about a month I have been having trouble with a sore foot. It seems to improve for a few days, then overnight it gets bad again. I finally got in to see the doctor today and learned I have a broken bone in my foot so I am in a big old boot. At least it is better than a cast because I can take it off to shower and sleep. I don't think I will be doing much gardening in it however. As if that wasn't bad enough, while I was waiting for the xrays, I broke a tooth, which will need a crown, so now I have that to deal with also. Just not my week, I guess. Seems after you turn 60 it is just patch, patch, patch! Hey but I'm OK and we will just see how strong those garden plants are. Maybe they can overcome the grass.

I especially don't feed the birds in summer. I prefer to have them dine on whatever insects and seeds they can find. If you fill them up with seeds, fruits and nuts, they won't be as hungry for the nasties in the garden. I have plenty of birds to show for it.

G.M. - I attached a link to info on attracting cardinals. They do like to have available deciduous and evergreen trees. I have huge black pines in the front yard and deciduous trees in the backyard, which they seem to love.

They are also ground feeders, preferring to eat seeds scattered on the ground, or at least from feeders that have large platforms areas, and are only a few feet off the ground nestled in shrubbery or tree branches.

Their favorite food is sunflower seeds. I do know that they mate for life, and once they have established their territory in your yard, they will stay there forever.

Hope this helps.

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: Attracting Cardinals

Merry Heart,

I don't know what is wrong with the cardinals in Ardmore! We have dozens and dozens in our yard every day. If I don't put out seed for them, though, I only see a few. I do put the food for them in little piles at the edge of the garden. They come to eat the food, then sit on the fence and tomato cages and eat bugs all day long. They also like to play in the water sprinkler. Now, I use soaker hoses and not sprinklers, but I'll turn on the sprinkler every now and then just for the birds too.

Susan,

I used to only feed birds in winter, not wanting to spoil them and feed them so well that they wouldn't eat bugs. However, last year I HAD to feed them during the drought or they wouldn't have survived. I had so many birds that I had almost no bugs, so I decided to try it this year.

Since feeding the birds, I would say that my bird population--and I am talking about birds that stay in and around the yard virtually all day long--has quadrupled. As a result, I am not having any bug problems.

After they eat the bird seed I put out for them, they sit on the fences, in the trees, on the tomato cages, on the barbed wire fence, etc. and fly around the yard eating bugs all day long. It has been interesting, because I feared that well-fed birds might not bother eating the bugs, but have found that is not true here at all.

Of course, I am in the country where there are billions of birds and they are all competing for the same food. You probably would have different results in the city where there are fewer birds.

Also, sometimes I have to stop putting out birdseed for a few days because it begins to attract large flocks of nuisance birds like starlings and grackles, AND because sometimes the huge amounts of birds in our yard begin to attract huge amounts of hawks to the yard.

Still, I have been enjoying the birds a lot, and the rain has made it easy for them.....I don't have to use the hose to make drinking puddles for the birds and butterflies every day since the rain is doing that for me!

Dawn

I have wondered if not enough or not having the right kind of trees is my problem in getting cardinals to come. I only have evergreens in front yard and those are not the huge kind. I have NO large trees in back yard where I want cardinals....we have lost several due to the soil problem...at least I assume that is the problem.

Now we have built my craft cottage (12 X 20 plus front porch) so with the small garden shed and DH's work shop as well as leaving space to park an almost 36 foot 5th wheel we don't have lots of room inside the back fence left for large trees......lol.

What to do?

The cardinals are around Dawn...at the lake they are abundant. But there are cedar trees everywhere. I always take bird seed when we go to the lake. The cardinals love the black sunflower sees and will eat them any way I serve them....on the ground, patio, grill, feeder, you name it...lol. One was particularly bold last time we were out and he would just come right up to me for me to drop seed on the patio for him. I think he might have gotten bold enough to eat from my hand.

I have had them at other places I have lived but this area is not an old area and the trees are not huge yet and not lots of them either. I think the lack of evergreens or fruit bearing trees may be the problem with them but that is just a guess.

I do have thick hedge of photinias which are large in my back yard but I need some kind of larger tree...I will have to find where I can plant one....I wish me luck...lol.

I am so tired of sparrows....we are way over populated with them and the last few days they come by what seems to be hundreds and are all making racket in the tree next door. I don't recall them ever doing this before and have wondered what is up.

Well I will just have to read up on it and find what I can manage do to try to attract them...I just love cardinals and really want to find a way to have them here.

We got more rain last night. I am getting so discouraged with our boggy yard. We need to go pick up our new 5th wheel and take ours to trade it in but it HAS to dry up before we can get it out. As soon as we see it has dried we will have to get ours out of the yard while we can. What a problem this is for us right now.

I worked all day yesterday packing up everything in the trailer and storing it in my craft cottage....you should see the trails I made in the yard going back and forth...and what a hassle taking off shoes and putting them on each time I went in and out of our trailer to keep from messing it up!

I am SICK AND TIRED OF RAIN. I hope it doesn't rain any more for the rest of summer!
Looking at the weather forecasts are just plain depressing. I shall stop watching them...they never get it right anyway. They should say "plan for it to rain every day" and be done with it. UGH!

Ya'll have a great and DRY day.

G.M.

Merry Heart,

I don't know why cardinals won't come to your yard. Even if you don't have really big trees, I bet your neighbors do. And the sparrows??? We have more than usual, but not in the numbers you describe. I'm sure the mild weather has something to do with it.

We got more rain AGAIN last night, so that is rain every day since Saturday here....and I think it rained on Friday, too, but my memory has trouble going back that many days....lol.

Last night it came down very hard....we got 3/4s of an inch in about 15 minutes. I am glad it did not rain long at that rate. I saw that Denison had high water last night, so they must have had more rain than us....there was at least one high water rescue in Denison last night too.

I am as tired of the rain and clouds as you are. Squishy yards are impossible to mow. Our friends who grow hay can't get anyone to cut it. All the custom hay cutter/baler crews are so far behind they cannot catch up, and the rain just makes it harder and harder. It is ironic, considering there was NO hay at all last year.

The new trailer will be fun, won't it? It appears that this is a better year for RVing than for gardening, at least once you can get out of the soggy yard. I saw on the news that an RV dealer in Sherman had over one million dollars in damage to the RVs on his lot during the flooding. Can you imagine? And I can't even begin to guess what it will do to his insurance rates!

I'm hoping for a great day here, if not a dry one. Going to make spaghetti sauce with some tomatoes from the garden and guess I'll break down and do boring things like laundry and house-cleaning since it is too wet to work outside. It is looking like more rain will fall any time. (sigh)

Dawn