Good for you, SCG... My first sighting is imminent; the first dandelions are blooming and the Anaphalis is getting tall enough for an American Lady to lay eggs on. Also, my Pussytoes are in bloom and my Urtica dioica is 3" high. We've had some on again off again warm weather and it's only a matter of time before I see that fluttering out of the corner of my eye- and it's not a leaf!! I see a few Noctuid moths around my porch light on warmer nights, so I know we're getting close :-) John

Diana, check out my post on the "Furry tailed rats" thread, where it explains the baffle system I use, and there is a picture. This setup has been 100% effective against squirrels, raccoons, and chipmunks, all of which I have. It's funny to watch a squirrel or chipmunk climb up the pole, under the baffle, and then a few minutes later, come back down! I don't think a Downy woodpecker would have any problem feeding on an upside down feeder? They are well used to picking at the underside of branches. I'm not sure how you would keep undesirable birds off of suet feeders (such as House Sparrows, Starlings, and Grackles, which can mob a feeder and clean it out). I had a little problem with Grackles this summer, so I didn't fill the suet log as regularly as I do in the winter. This is okay, since the primary food source for birds in the summer is insects, which are abundant during warm weather.

Small update: I was out at dusk doing some last minute watering and debating on which pots to bring under the porch in case there was a light frost. I thought the little guy would've been asleep, but apparently my noises woke him up and he sat on the broken branch over his hole to watch me for a good 15 minutes, taking occasional flights over to some sycamores (he's flipping off pieces of bark, apparently for a before-bed snack). However, when he finally flew back into his nest, I could hear the chatter of TWO birds. Look's like he's found his significant other. Now I can't wait for the eventual little feathery fuzzballs in awhile. I'll try to buy a suet feeder this weekend if I can remember.

John, for photo sharing, you have two options: (1) You can use photo editing software to crop and/or reduce the resolution of your photo so that the file size is within GardenWeb's limits. This can limit the quality of your photos, however. OR (2) You can use any of various photo hosting sites to host your photos. You then paste a link to your hosted photo into your message here. A few popular free photo hosting sites are: http://picasa.google.com/ (Picasa Web Albums can be used without the Picasa software download.) http://photobucket.com/ http://www.flickr.com/ Some sites provide photo albums and slideshows, optional private or public albums. Others may hold your photos only for a limited time. Check them out.