Hi, mehitabe, Thanks for responding so quickly, I have mixed emotions about the hummingbirds leaving, kinda glad I will have the winter birds still around. I have been reading to see if there are some stray birds that make the upstate home for the winter, other than the ones that live here year round. One of the first birds I ran into in late April, before I got my first hummingbird feeder, was a house finch. I had never seen this little red headed sparrow (as I called it, that was the way I also found it at Youtube with the real name). As I read about it, in an article written a few weeks earlier, it was new to our area, (the reason I hadn't seen it before), but I believe they are here to stay, the male and female had two broods this summer adding seven young one's that will be breading next spring? I guess? What I'm getting at, is that there might be a day that we have a year round hummer here, because the house finch migrated east from Hawaii to California to here, and there is a small number of hummers in California, and Colorado, that no longer go back to the mid-Americas, because they have become accustomed to temps in the low 20's F, who knows, maybe I'll invent a heated hummingbird feeder. Nothing wrong with dreaming. Thanks much, keep birding, Robert "Windwalker" ps. While I was here typing I have a new hummer, when the male chases this hummer away the back is yellow the new hummer has tried to get water but the male gives, this is a new male too, so I guess the male in charge has left, to work his way to his winter grounds? He did have two females that he gave chase. so three backs, two green and one is a metallic yellow no matter which way he turns, I got them confused in the chase. It's the new male that has a yellow back, all the hummers so far when they fly through the sunlight have metallic green, but the male. going to stop and see what I have. it has gotten so busy, even have a new bird in the last few minutes, I think it a wren, maybe Carolina wren, not seen this bird except in books, and nature shows. "He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler." Psalm 91:4

whenever I hear people discussing ways to discourage the sparrow I have to ask myself why? As You can easily see from my photo's when there is an abundant supply of food the birds will all mingle well. From my observation it is only when the food is in short supply that they really begin to be territorial. The question then becomes, why is the seed in short supply? No doubt the answer here is simple economics. People don't care to spend a lot of money on expensive birdseed, only to have it consumed by the less desirable birds and they don't get to see the species they are really interested in. From my experience the solution here is to shop around for your wild bird seed. By example, we have a local store that caters specifically to feeding and attracting wild birds. They sell a general mix of wild bird seed for $15 for a 20lb bag. On the other hand, Walmart has 20lb bags of the same seed for $10, however at Walmart it is a seasonal item and by now you probably can't find it. How would you like to find a year around source that has a better selection at prices far below the average retail store prices? In almost every community there is a store that specializes in selling feed, grain and hay for horses or farm animals. When my sister goes to the feed mill to buy feed for her horses I tag along and buy 50# bags of premium wild bird seed (mixed seed & peanuts) for $12 plus I buy a 50# bag of black oilseed sunflower seed for another $13. I then mix the two together and I end up with a premium blend for an average of $.25/lb. If you cannot find a Feed & grain supply in your community check out TSC (Tractor Supply Co.) TSC is also a great place to find feeders of all types for prices far below what you find in the regular retail stores, but then feeders are so simple to build i don't see why anyone would pay the prices they ask in most stores. While we are on the subject of bird feed, you may be surprised at how much you throw away every month without realizing it. When you bake a ham or a roast trim off the excess fat and put that in your suet feeder, the birds love it. At my house we all love to eat acorn or butternut squash. When you hollow out the seeds put them out for the birds, here again, they love it. Making a salad? Save the carrot peelings of the birds and by all means, be sure to save your orange or grapefruit peelings. I have seen a Bluejay grab an entire half section grapefruit peel and fly it up into the pine tree. Stale popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, breakfast cereal and cookies all go over well with the birds and as silly as it may sound, even leftover porky beans, whole kernel corn or green beans will quickly disappear when the birds find them. As you can see, I have taken feeding the birds rather seriously however to tell the truth it is more an means to an end. Since I retired last June I have taken up nature photography as a hobby, and since it is a bit too cold to get out in the woods like i would like to do, this is a way i can bring nature to me while i comfortably sit in the house...LOL. Gein that the subject of this thread was how to attract cardinals I thought i might post a couple more Cardinal Picks, along with one of my favorite pics of a Bluejay.

This may be of interest to those of you who live in other areas with different bird species in your yards. Or it could be that most of these birds are everywhere. These are my counts here in Plymouth, MA for the Focus on Feeders weekend: 6 American Crows 11 American Goldfinches 2 American Tree Sparrows 2 Black-capped Chickadees 16 Blue Jays 1 Carolina Wren 1 Cooper's Hawk 4 Dark-eyed Juncos 1 Downy Woodpecker 3 European Starlings 1 Hairy Woodpecker 25 House Sparrows 6 Mourning Doves 11 Northern Cardinals 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 Savannah Sparrow 3 Song Sparrows 2 Tufted Titmice 11 Wild Turkeys 1 White-breasted Nuthatch 13 White-throated Sparrows Twenty-one species total. Of the regulars, the Red-bellied woodpecker and the Northern Flicker didn't show up. No Eastern Bluebirds either, but I didn't expect them. Claire This post was edited by claire on Mon, Feb 4, 13 at 15:27

Hi Konrad, I don't know. It's looks a little too bulky and dark colored to be a Clay-colored Sparrow. Usually, the Clay-colored Sparrow looks a little like a Chipping Sparrow. And, I think I saw some streaks near the base of the tail. But, I may be wrong. With only one picture there're always possibilities of mistakes. Wish is a Clay-colored, Luc