Jeanne, O how bittersweet! I'm sure it was hard to finally do away with that well established tree. (Have you ever read the childrens story "The Giving Tree"?) ...I love the sliced tree trunk for stepping slices! You know once I saw a table top made with tree slices and it looked all so wonderful! ..I LOVE the pergola! It's absolutely perfect there in that angle! Seriously, you should send your story and photos to Birds and Blooms magazine. It looks like something they would put in it! With all the other bushes, trees, plants that you have planted it will be even more gorgeous in the spring. I'm sure that goldfinch was asking himself, " I know there WAS a tree here. Now, where did it go? Well, this feeder and this other thing here seem really nice too. Was I talking about something else? MMMMmm! Seed is so good when it's cold! " Planting bushes close to the feeder will give thos ebirds cover from the hawks and such....Can;t wait too fro your spring photos! Thanks so much for sharing! Love, Jules

I attract mantis and hummingbirds to my yard. Havent seen a dead hummingbird and my plants have less bugs on them. I just hang my feeders from shepherds hooks. The mantis seem to have a problem climbing them. I have seen a hb in a spiderweb once. As for children being scared of the mantis, I take my sons outside, pick up whatever they are afraid of (as long as it isnt dangerous) and show them that they dont hurt anything. My son was afraid of cicada shells. He now has a collection. He is 4. Maybe a mix of red pepper and garlic spray will deter the mantis from the feeder area. Birds dont mind it, bugs hate it. I use it on my roses to keep the bugs off.

I have found 9-pound bags of a mix of mostly millet with some sunflower seed and, I think, safflower seed, at a dollar-type store here called Big Lots. $7 per bag. Birds gobble it up in winter, but in the winter they'll eat anything; in the spring they are picky, kicking out the milo for the pigeons and doves, so I stop feeding them and concentrate on hummingbirds and, this year, suet for Ladderback and Downy woodpeckers. Also I have nyger thistle feeders (both metal mesh feeder and sock feeder) out for our sweet, tiny lesser goldfinches. To complete my first post in this forum, I spotted and got pictures of a male Northern Cardinal this morning, a rare sighting for our area (Albuquerque). A similar male bird (the same one??) was reported a few miles further north back in February. I also photographed a rare Vermillion Flycatcher in April. Maybe more birds are moving into my state -- and I'll have figure out how to feed them if they visit my apartment complex :)

black oil sunflower seeds probably attract more birds than any other feed. you can use a tube feeder or a mesh wire feeder or even a hopper feeder. Suet is a great treat in winter but some birds eat it year around. you can use a suet cage and buy suet cakes or make your own suet mix. there are lots of old posts on here making suet. if you like doves and juncos and other ground feeders the seed mixes with cracked corn ot millet do good but they also attract blackbirds and starlings and cowbirds which lots of people don't want around. the summer song birds such as tanagers and orioles and grosbeaks like fruit or berrys or drink from necter feeders. or plants with berrys or blooms and blossoms. the woodpeckers i get here love nuts and suet and cracked corn and millet. robins and bluebirds like mealworms or grubs or earthworms the tits and chickadees and nuthatches like suet or hulled sunflowers or boss or nuts.