Oh My! Jan...another 'Bird Whisperer' in your family. Just to let you know, I tried. I had a fist full of sunflower hearts, offered them in out streatched hand to a group of Chickadees and...nada...nothing...they just looked at me, tapping their little toes...waiting for me to leave. You and Mike (AKA Snow White & Prince Charming) have the magic touch... I like your pictures and yes, the Flicker is a very beautiful bird. I like to see them fly into the yard. With the sun behind them, their wings take on a bright golden/mustard tone as they fly. I love the distinct markings on their backs and that touch of red on the back of their head is remarkable. I feel the same way about the Red-Bellied Woodpecker. Both have the power to stop me in my track when I see them. Today is a PFW count day for me but before I could get started I needed to top off two feeders and replenish the suet. As soon as I got back in the house from doing so, I was rewarded with the Yellow-Rumped Warbler, back for some suet. I am also seeing more House Finch and, they look healthy. Just like all of you, I am also getting an increase in bird song...I love it! I'm also noticing that birds are starting to show up in pairs. I noticed it first in the Woodpeckers...another good sign. sooey

1) Tracy #4/#12/#1/#4/#6/#12/#2 2) Sassy #5/#3/#5/#10 3) Carmen DONE! (wins Box #9) 4) Karen #2/#5 5) Pat #8 6) Lisa DONE! (wins Box #3) 7) Priscilla #4/#13 8) Deb #5/#9/#12/#9/#5/#12/ 9) Denise #3/#5/#3/#12/#5/#2 10) Vic #13/#11 11) Shirley #4/#12/#4 12) Fran #1 13) Alana#6/ Apparently, I was wrong on a couple of these numbers yesterday, but I wasn't sure where that was. Does someone who understood it want to make the corrections for me? Tks.

I have two feeders one with BOSS, the other has nyger seed. I had a flocks of chikadees and finches. They suddenly left, occasionally I will see a few of each come to the feeders, they peck a little then leave. My trees are full of birds. Should I empty the feeders, and add new seeds? I don't know exactly how I should clean the feeders, the seeds aren't old. We did have a few slight showers last week, is it possible they may be tainted? I have no idea. I would also love to attract the tiny little birds I see in the trees. I don't know what type of feeder or seed. They certainly are not hummers, I can't see them that close, they appear to be dark in color. Also I have some cardinals that cannot feed in my cage feeder, but I also have a huge grackle problem. How should I feed my cards? I live in South Texas. Thank You!

We switched to feeding safflower, thistle and upside down suet feeders along with fruit, jelly and nectar, after our first year living in the country. We moved from the city to a rural area in Wisconsin and decided to put nest boxes out for bluebirds and wrens, our first year we had mostly HS but we also had one set of bluebirds and one set of tree swallows. Before the little ones had a chance to fledge the HS killed them and nested on top of them, we were sick over this. I removed all the nest boxes and started researching on how to keep the non-native and rough birds away. The switch to the foods we place out on our property was the biggest part of not attracting the non-natives and rougher birds. When the HS try to take over the nest boxes in the spring I shoot them, it is the best way to keep them out of the box, plus it gets rid of another non-native invasive bird. I tried removing their nests at first but they are persistent and do not give up until you get rid of them. We now get one or two nesting pair of bluebirds and usually four to five nesting pair of tree swallows and a pair of nesting wrens(all have fledged within the last week and a half) the few starlings that come in the yard to feed on bugs in the grass do not stick around long ( they get shot as well). This is not intended to offend any bird lovers ( we are bird lovers at our house ) it is only to tell how we deal with the invasive non-native birds that are taking over the territory of our native song birds.