Invasive species of plants are a big problem. I have been concerned about them for over 35 years. The worst are the exotic vines which not only strangle and pull down trees, but also cover the forest floor and wipe out the native woodland flowers, etc. Among the trees, the worst around here is the Ailanthus, or "stink tree," which on the back of my land here in Winchester takes over so completely that no seedlings of any other species survive, partly because of its agressive reproduction and shading, but also because of its alleopathic powers. Compared to these things, it seems to me that the pears, and even the Norway maple, are relatively minor problems. Here in the Winchester area the pears are planted everywhere. I have some pear seedlings coming up in my field, but not to the exclusion of anything else, and in general I see them hardly at all around on the roadsides or in abandoned fields. I have been in the industrial area around dulles Airport outside DC and seen their abundance there. I think we need some kind of concerted and well funded action to try to get rid of the worst of these invasives. I can imagagine a time when all the forests will be simply choked with vines and we will not see any yong trees growing upward without being crushed by these vines. And this Ailanthus problem is really terrible and spreading. Sorry, I apologize to some of you who see the pears to be such a threat, but the overall threat from invasives in general is so great, and so widesperead, that I think we need to focus on the worst problems. I think that we need some real strong community, and perhaps legislative action to fight the Ailanthus problem and the problem caused by the worst of the vines--these will really destroy our native forests. If we make pears public enemy #1 I think we will be taking on too much and will get nothing done. I think it is clear from the discussion of this topic that we will not get everyone to rally around a "ban and destroy the pears" movement. But set up a topic about Ailanthus and the vines, and you may see more widespread support. With that support, maybe something can be done, at least on a local community level. --Spruce

Nice, Lisa. I like Mourning Dove,too. Sorta off topic, but I saw a cardinal feeding a little brown bump of something in the orchard yesterday. I was walking my little senior pup and the cat always has to come with us. Well, I hurried ahead and scooped up the baby cardinal and placed he/she in the tall grass before Kitty spotted it. The baby made a big fuss and spread its wings to try and scare me, I felt bad. The adult hovered nearby so I'm sure it knew where it was.

Wow ten pairs with eggs?! And I feel like I hit the lottery if I get one pair a year! Good job on your part, maybe you can help me to get more pairs to choose one of our nest boxes and have successful fledglings, which has been rather hard because of so many predators that threaten them and have killed newly hatched eggs or this years issue pulling out eggs and pecking them. Anyway, Im going to start a new thread asking for help once again from all the knowledgeable blue birders here like yourself to help me have more success in our nest boxes this year. Thank you for helping so many blues nest in your boxes, I would love to see that many blue birds in one area, accept in the winter when they are all flocked together in search of food. Good for you! Gina

Cool, so you know 3 are still out there!! I could spend all day watching the birds. We have had so many fledglings around lately...Orioles, Cardinals, Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, Chipping Sparrows, Downey Woodpeckers, Red Bellied Woodpeckers along with the not so desirable Red Wings and Grackles and of course our Blues and Dees. My seed and suet feeders (and jelly dishes) are on the opposite end of the deck from the mealworm feeder so our deck is a very busy place. I don't have an expensive camera either, I just have a old Canon S3IS which has a 12x zoom and then I have a 1.7x teleconverter added onto it to make it a longer zoom. I generally shoot in shutter priority mode so I can control the shutter speed so I can control how much light is let in. I would love love love a DSLR but I am pretty happy with what I have. I know I miss some good shots but I get some good ones too. It doesn't do very well in dim lighting though. Oh and I use photobucket to share my photos here. Upload them there and then use the html code and copy it here to share your photos. Go to photobucket.com to get started. Donna