Hi, June. I've never had much seed loss from the socks, oddly enough. They really are so cheap and easy to keep during our brief goldfinch season that I almost always use them. I've gone through three of them this spring, but now I'm down to just two goldfinches and they are feeding mostly on sunflower seed at the tray feeder. I do have one screened in thistle seed feeder, but the birds didn't seem to like it as much as the sock. I've thought about getting one like you linked to, but never bothered with the extra expense, since the goldfinches are only here for 3 or 4 weeks before heading back north. They come through in the fall, too, but not for as long. No matter which style feeder used, they do LOVE those thistle seeds, and it is so worth putting out for them. I had males this year completely colored up, solid brilliant yellow with black wings and cap, by the time they left. They were breathtaking. (Not my photo, btw) One thing, though...I didn't see a single bunting this year. Last year, I had indigos almost every day, and two painted buntings for about a week or 10 days. I also had a rose-breasted grosbeak one day, and a blue grosbeak once. So far, none of them has shown up this year, sniff! My catbird is still here and still eating seeds, but the myrtle warbler has finally figured out that he isn't supposed to be a seed eater and has gone off to find the rest of his flock. The garden is so much the richer for these wonderful creatures I share it with. They make my heart happy, and I hope to find more and more plants and flowers that will help bring them in. Marcia

OH NO, please go over to the birdwatching forum and read my post about the flufed up birds. What you have there is salmenilla. I had two that I cought and brough in two days ago. They rooseted together through the night, then died the next day. You must take all your feeders down and wash them with a bleach solution. You know the drill I am sure. Clean under the feeders and any bird baths too.There has been a outbreak in our reigon. It is highly contageous and can be transmited to humans and domestic pets. There are several good links in the post over there. This is NOT one of those things that you want to let nature take it's course with. This affects birds in the finch family the most, including pine siskins. I know how badly you felt, I go through the same dilema myself and it was so sad to watch those little birdies die, I was going to take them to the rehabber to be put to sleep, there is nothing to cure it, I am glad they had each other in a warm place to die. So WARNING to anybody in this region, pleas please keep your feeders EXTRA CLEAN especially UNDER them , this is spread by fecies. I am so sorry dirtgirl. Lisa

While I have Goldfinches year round, that might explain why I'm suddenly inundated with them. The weather has been awful here in MA. We've had bucketloads of rain and wind. The poor little things are out there looking absolutely soaked. I'm counting between 36 and 46 soaked little Goldfinches at my feeders at any given time.

compost_hugger_nancy- Yes, Claire is a REAL BIRDLADY, and a GREAT one at that. She helped me identify the Red breasted Nuthatch when I called it a chickadee, lol. Plus has helped with other things too. Thank you for the kind words, I'm glad you like the photos and stories. bob414- They are different, I've been around them my whole life, so I'm use to them. I have photos (before digital) from 20 years ago where you see orbs spiraling down the hallway of the house I used to live in. I have photos of them in cars I would restore. I would have to take a lot of photos just to make sure the orbs weren't in the way. Claire- No I haven't got a hold of any organization concerning the orbs. A. (There are some entities you call orbs that are visible to infrared cameras but not to the human eye. They may be visible to birds which are known to be able to detect a wider spectrum of light wavelengths than humans. To the infrared camera they appear as floating points of light in constant movement). True, birds even have like a sonar (radar) that they can pick up other birds with and energies like a tracking device that is in the air. I think if there is too much energies (orbs included), it will interfere with their tracking and they may not fly. Most of the orbs stay in constant movement but some don't. Here are some dancing- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhdSd2SrhOU B. (The orbs seem to be centered around (and in) your house and don't go too far outward although they do travel high and may extend far up right above you). True, it may be a portal. C. (They seem to be able to pass through walls (which are made of non-living materials) but they seem to avoid living materials such as birds and maybe trees. All living organisms as far as I know have a bioelectric field associated with them. They also seem to avoid cars and trucks except when covered with snow. Maybe the metal carries a charge)? True and false. They avoid birds but not necessarily trees. I've seen still orbs on the branches with a little bit of flicker. Bioelectric field is basically Orgone Energy (natural energy)that was discovered by Dr. Wilhelm Reich back in the forties. I have orgone devices in and around the house, even on the deck. They don't avoid vehicles, I have pics of orbs in vehicles that I was restoring. D. (They're not particularly affected by wind or heat or light or magnets, although they may notice the magnetic field). True E. (They appear in loose groups on a fairly regular schedule; around sunset and then again around midnight. The activity of the groups is very variable - sometimes slow and sometimes very excited). True F. You're located in Southern Alaska which is near the Arctic Circle. True Question 1. (You're in aurora country, do they react to auroral activity? Today activity is low, but we're near solar maximum and the Auroral Oval could easily extend out to Southern Alaska when activity increases, as it does on a day by day basis. Auroras are chock full of energy which could affect your orbs). There is probably lots of them during aurora borealis due to the amount of energy available in the air. Question 2. (What about sound, which is another form of energy? You have neighbors so you can't just go blasting out strange music (or you shouldn't), but if you set up a camera indoors you could play with sounds of very low and very high pitch, as well as everything in between). True, even though I might be inside the house, I know there is some 'music' that seems to bring more of them around. I will show you the test when I get the cameras up in the house. I had to order more cameras because two of the ones that came in were bad and not working. I will be pointing more cameras upward to see how they act with the auroras. I will be testing frequencies as well. Question 3. (Do they come out when it snows? You said you didn't film when it snowed because you "didn't want to get a false reading/observation", which is very reasonable, but maybe you could put a cover of some sort over a camera and a dark background to see if they're there. My thought is that snowflakes are charged so that might affect the orbs). The orbs do come out when it snows and you can see them going against the direction of the snowflakes and some go sideways. I can also do the covering of the camera with the black background just to see how their behavior is. Question 4. (What type of light did you use for your test? Incandescent, fluorescent, halogen, LED? Maybe a 'black light' bulb that produces UV light would have an effect). I used an LED light. Good idea on the black light, I need to get one and perform that test. Question 5. (Would they react to a battery? Batteries have an anode and a cathode so there might be an attraction or repulsion to one end and not the other). I went and did that test, here is the video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI_h1gnm6w Question 6. (Winter Soltice is coming up this weekend and it might be worth looking to see if there's any difference in activity. There's a lot of cultural history and also hype about the solstices, but maybe there's something to be seen). True, I took a video at 1am because they were acting different, shocking- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef18lpRjQow It's my pleasure passing on information like this. If you look into lets say Orgone Pyramids, you'll understand more about the energies around us and how you can change things for the better where you live. P.S. Almost forgot to mention about the ravens that have been coming by lately- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6Pgb-KrsBU Ed This post was edited by Trickyfingers on Sat, Dec 22, 12 at 9:38