You can always try hanging the feeders independent of the trees. A post set into the ground with hooks for the feeders or the shepherd's crooks they sell specifically for this purpose would prevent any damage hanging feeding appliances directly to a tree might incur. As to the pros and cons of feeding birds.......I agree with Dan on this one. Expanding development has restricted/removed many of the natural habitats and food sources and encouraging birds to the garden is overall a very good thing - they are the best natural insect control available! Plus, they are infinitely entertaining. Planting to encourage habitat and to supplement food sources is desirable, but nothing wrong with feeders either. They can bring the birds up close and personal :-)) If you want songbirds, try a "no-waste" mix. Even if it gets scattered on the ground, it gets eaten too fast to hang around to attract rodents. And sapsucker damage to trees is generally more cosmetic than particularly harmful. Since they have a 'preferred' tree menu, you can always avoid attracting them by not planting the trees they like. And as they tend to limit their diet to insects and tree sap, with supplementation from fruits and berries - the seed feeders are unlikely to create additional problems.

Ah I wish my possum had stuck around. I fed him part of my ham sandwich, well I left it on the floor for him, and it (and he) were gone the next morning, never to return. As far as unwelcome furry guests, I do seek to control the numbers of the mice in the barn, via passive/aggressive predator measures, despite the fact that I consider white-footed field mice to be one of the cutest creatures on the planet. Cats, snakes, and weasels are all enlistees in my rodent control volunteer army. There are only a few specimens of wildlife that I relentlessly exterminate. Hornets and wasps top the list and I shoot for a zero population of these stinging insects every summer. They are followed by the fleas, ticks, and internal parasites that seek to victimize myself and my family, both two and four footed. These particular unwelcome insects, arachnids, and nematodes are the only pests to provoke me into chemical warfare, as my general rule is to shun pesticides and herbicides. If my house sparrows had left with the blackbirds, they would have been no problem. Not that my blackbirds leave, they are full time residents each summer. I would have welcomed raptor sparrow predation, but I've never seen a hawk touch ground here, although they frequently circle overhead above the woods. They probably have a collective memory of being shot at unfortunately, and seek prey in distant meadows away from human habitation. The rapidly multiplying plague of house sparrows that descended on my property, bent on colonization, was something I liken to a swarm of locusts. I've never seen anything like it. I now understand why they have so many enemies, and I am generally very tolerant of invasive wildlife. I even like feral pigeons! Then there are those pests who have bested me. I sadly concede defeat to the red lily beetle. (RIP my beautiful tiger lilies.) I also see no reasonable means of eradicating the Japanese beetles, now that they have found me. Instead I am planting only those flowers this year that seemed to have resistance to the beetles last year, and giving up on those that were a sought after delicacy. Thankfully my perennials are among those with resistance, so none have become casualties. Turning to non-pests, "my" pair of tufted titmice are checking out last year's nest in my barn, thinking about refurbishing it I guess. They're next to impossible to photograph, as is their partially hidden nest up in the rafters.

I was living in town when Mr. Walski was giving talks about the wild turkey project. Although the article describes the CT River valley, I think there were other release sites that weren't mentioned. I thought our town was one of them because of the corn, apples and water. We don't have apple orchards any more but although we are down to one dairy farm, a neighbor has quite a few beef cows (and lots of manure). We used to enjoy seeing the turkeys roost in pines along a corn field. As day was ending, they would gather and one by one fly up into the trees. The cattle farmer made improvements to the field since years of not keeping up with things let trees encroach on the field. About 100 feet of pines were cut back. There are plenty more pines but too much heavy equipment activity. The heavy equipment is now parked a distance away and finally we saw three male turkeys in our yard and then exploring the corn field. Last winter we counted as many as 60 coming down from the pines to see what they could get in our yard before making the tour to other places. I don't recalled seeing blue birds in winter before but this year we probably have 8. I counted 4 females and one male picking up suet scraps and thistle seed. We do not have nesting boxes up so I have no idea where they nest but it is probably somewhere behind our house. Thanks for posting the wonderful pictures. A friend has been getting some good shots at the Nashua airport and posting them on facebook.

I have had the same issue here with the black colored birds! First, I had a very large group of Starlings. Then, a sizable band of Red-winged Blackbirds showed up. After that,the Cowbirds joined in. Suddenly, from out of the blue, came a ba-zillion Grackles. With their arrival, the other guys sort of moved on! Now, things seemed to have settled down a bit. I still see small numbers of each species, but I am no longer swamped with them!