Claysmom, perhaps your son would be interested in making his property a Certified Wildlife Habitat? This is easier than most people might think. You just need to provide food, shelter and water for various types of animals. You can Google it and read all about the requirements online, and even print out an application for the official certification. Nicki's city yard is certified, so even those without rural property can qualify. I encourage everyone who is interested to check it out. (If I can managed to stay on the computer long enough, I'll see if I can find the link, but I'm having some unanticipated difficulties from my foot surgery, and won't be here very long.) Glad you guys enjoyed seeing this old post pop up again. I do love these birds, and am happy it was of interest to you. Marcia

Thank you deanie. I had a cowbird here this summer: This fella this morning was cold or something. He never moved. And since he was new, I didn't want to rattle him, so I couldn't use my tripod that was in my kitchen sink. I had to stand away in my kitchen and shoot thru a window. Well as you see, this fella was darn near black. I could see the "spilled oil" color on its' feathers, however. Dax

Thanks Angie. I will indeed photograph more often. I set the tripod and camera in my kitchen sink and the feeder is maybe nine feet away. The birds are becoming more and more trusting of me. When I go outside in the morning to fill the feeder (sunflower hearts) there's singing and more and more birds are venturing closer to me... especially a Downy woodpecker. He will allow me to get near the feeder when he's on the railing before he flies off. Of course I enjoy greeting him and the other birds with a simple: "hello guys" or "good morning guys" One question I have is the use of capitalization when talking about birds. I'm very well versed in trees/etc- What is correct with birds, i.e.: Northern Cardinal or Northern cardinal White-breasted Nuthatch or White-breasted nuthatch The "common names" of trees are always lower case, i.e. fir, spruce, maple, oak, etc- Never Oak or Maple, etc- Many thanks guys and gals! Dax

Thinking further about it, I don't need to prop open the cold frame, which would make a 4-foot long narrow opening. I have two ventilation holes (2 by 4 inches) in the back wall, blocked by hardware cloth and 16 inches above the ground. All I need to do is remove the hardware cloth, then install hole reducers to reduce the holes to 2 by 2 inches each. Each hole reducer can also support a shelf/perch INSIDE the box, which will allow the birds to check the interior after entering. The inner shelf will also restrict the downward reach of any predator paws. The box is so big, though, that birds can easily stay out of reach of any predator paws. I thought of putting the cold frame up on the railing of the rear deck, where in a corner position, the railing would support three corners of the frame, needing only one temporary leg for the last corner -- but my wife vetoed that idea (too unsightly). (It was designed to be portable, in three stackable sections of about 30 pounds each, with a hardware cloth plus porous plastic bottom.) We have no snakes of any kind in this suburban area. Rats and mice are under control, because since I have been killing them, there are no more signs of them trying to tunnel into my shop/storage area, which has a dirt floor. But just in case, I can add a smooth hard material to the back wall of the cold frame so that rodents cannot climb up to the entrance holes. The other possible predators are wandering cats (common) and racoons (rare). The inner shelf/baffle will stop them. I have st least a dozen small plastic pots that I can lay sideways in the cold frame in case some birds would like to roost in them. A bed of leaves and perching branches are the other options to offer. As for the 'wren' nestbox, the downy has enlarged the opening to 1 1/4 inches. I cleaned out old twigs and put a pile of sawdust in the bottom.