Thanks for the suggestion about coral honeysuckle. When I said trumpet vine I meant "cardinal climber" -- is that the same thing? I'll have to plant the cardinal climber away from the house then. Will it re-seed on its own and take over my garden in zone 6? Maybe it's cold enough up here that I don't have to worry about that. From what I can tell either of these will grow from seed direct sown outdoors. Is that right? Or is it better to buy a plant from the nursery? I'll be on the lookout for Salvia "Lady in Red" and "Coral Nymph." We've got a few nurseries around here with excellent selections (too much!). I'll look for 'Jacob's Cline' Monarda too. Most of my planting will be in containers. Mary Ann

The reason I believe it may be a Vit. a deficiency is that the BB foot looks like a possible ~bumblefoot~. Of course Vit. A deficiency is not the only cause of such a condition, that is to say, a corn / hyperkeratosis / swelling of the bottom of a foot but it certainly is near the top of the causes that may predispose birds to the condition and a secondary debilitating bacterial condition. They may also get a secondary yeast infection of the foot. If a Vit. A deficiency is recognized fairly early, supplementation will result in resolution of the deficiency starting within a week. In reality this does not occur so rapidly as the secondary infections also need to be addressed and treated. The primary sources for Vit. A are plant materials in deep green and orange veggies as well as egg yolk. Suet is high in protein, fat and the B vitamins. I do not know the specifics of the product mentioned in the article linked. A Vit. A deficiency, or any nutritional deficiency, may occur in any species. A varied diet is the best diet to decrease the occurence of a nutritional deficiency. Just as an aside ... for those who use suet ... If you take some suet product and grind it into the tree bark of the trunk and various branches ... you will increase the WP, Nuthatch, Creeper and other visitors! They **REALLY** like eating the suet this way and more are able to feed at a time if the food is spread around some. I am NOT an avian specialist but just offer this observation as my ~best guess~ for the condition in question. It may or may not be the true problem.

If it is true I wonder if you could stick the meal worms in the freezer and save them to the fall time, I know they go dormant in the refrigerater but would sticking them in the freezer be too much for them, would you end up with dead meal worms. This would be practical for me since I've got about 1000 meal worms and the birds are not even touching them and it makes me wonder if the meal worms are killing them since I've got the last batch which so happen to be right before the last batch fledged two weeks ago, Never saw them again after they left, I expected them to stick around for the free meal worms, I hope they are still alive. And I'm not sure if this currect adult pair, if it is the same pair that had the first two clutches. I suspect one of them isn't and the other one ran off with the kids. Never the Less, this female has laid 5 eggs and has probably been sitting on them for a week, haven't been watching them as much as last clutch. Anyway many Questions and mysteries in life, Keith

You are probably correct about the corn and millet but my intended purpose is to photo document as many species of birds as I can. To that end I put out a large variety of foods that will attract all birds, whether they are consodered desirable or not. In fact,as long as I keep the feeders full I see very little actual competion between any of the species. Now I will freely admit that sometimes I have to refill the feeders 2 or 3 times a day and I scatter a considerable amount of seed as well as Bread, orange peels and apples on the ground but I get the apples free and 10 loaves of bread for a dollar, and there is an upside to this method. 1. The Squirrels actually prefer the bread.: . 2. generally the starlings and sparrows prefer to feed on the ground, here again, often preferring the bread to the seed, not to mention that there is a flock of 31 wild turkeys that come in shortly after daylight to get the bread and corn that is left on the ground. Even the Bluejays and Cardinals prefer to feed on the ground and often I see a half a dozen species of birds feeding right alongside a squirrel or chipmonk and on two oc occasions I have seen a groundhog feeding with the birds. Now I am sure that I could get a more selective clientele if I changed the menu but at my house Nobody goes away hungry.