What a treat! Thanks for sharing. I read such a discouraging article in the Chicago Tribune last week. It was about a bird tagging location near the Illinois/Wisconsin border that has been functioning for forty years. At first I thought the article said the number of birds had declined by ten to twenty percent, then...no, the number has declined TO ten to twenty percent of the migrating birds. They blame pollution and the declining habitat along migration routes. One of the tiny birds photographed had been recorded on migration from Northern Canada to South America. Our bird population has never come back more than a few percent from the die-off during avian flu a few years ago. I almost never see a crow or blue jay -- who thought I'd miss *them*?

If at all possible, I will try to get a video. He was on top of the nest box just outside my kitchen window and facing the main tomato garden. Wrens are great for keeping tomato plants bug-free. He's hopping up and down on top of the box. Sometimes with both feet, sometimes on first the left foot - hop, hop, hop - and then the right foot - hop, hop, hop. Sometimes his hops take him up a couple inches; sometimes a foot or more. He has both wings dropped down with his head bobbing. Then holds first one wing and then the other out at various angles and contortions...all the while doing the multi-footed polka, and singing his fool heart out the entire time. He flies straight up a couple feet and then zig-zags back down to the nest box top. Again, singing that fool heart out. I expected him to have a major coronary at any second. She looked at him; she looked in the box, (a very fine Coveside chickadee box, with slate squirrel guard, by the way) did the birdy version of an eye roll, and zoomed off. Her mama raised her better than to hang out with that sort of boy. But then...good girls and bad boys...we know how that story plays out at times!

If I recall, March is the month! Mine is still on the ground because the telescoping pole is not telescoping. I have sprayed with lubricant but don't know if I can get it tall enough at the recommended 15 feet.

My PMs returned on April 28! I have beautiful songs and long swooping flights all over the place. The 16 gourds will provide safe housing/nesting areas for up to 16 pairs of birds. There is usually one or two males that will claim more than one gourd. His female will nest in their main one, but he won’t allow other martins in “his” empty gourd. I think I had 12 successful pairs last year. I’ll have to check my records. Spring migration is spotty this year. The Northern “Baltimore” orioles and Rose-breasted grosbeaks are back. I have several warblers, red-polls, and Harris’ sparrows passing through, too. The tree swallows are back, but no barn swallows yet. I sprinkle dried, crushed eggshells on the edge of the driveway for all the birds. All the swallows love them. I also have a gorgeous red-headed woodpecker hanging around the suet feeders with the Downey and Hairy WPs. The goldfinches are just starting to show a bit of their summer yellow color.