Thank you Monarda, your post is of great interest to me. I've been interested in creating more biodiversity in my rose garden after I read that biodiversity in rose garden would attract more beneficial insects. When I moved onto the property there was a "rosebushes only" type of garden, c. 200 rosebushes and bare dirt and rarely a bee in sight. After I planted violets, sweet alyssum and Mother-of Thyme so many bees showed up that my ankles got stung a couple times and I've learned to not plant the last two plants along a pathway or stepping stone because the honeybees seem to love them best. I'm happy because the rose garden has a much lovelier appearance from being more lush and green. Luxrosa

Love to see the turkey poults growing, Claire. Great pictures. I am sort of following two parallel threads showing young turkeys, yours and a facebook thread of the organic farm where we buy our thanksgiving turkey every year. Theirs are a heritage breed, very close to the wild turkeys, and out on grass, as turkeys are meant to be (not scrunched up into tiny pens and fed GM corn). Both sets of photos make me happy! I think your moth may be a promethea moth, Pixie. Also I love your photo of the running fawn. Jane, your beautiful pictures of the rose breasted grosbeaks made me recall the huge flocks of evening grosbeaks we had long ago during an era where we fed the birds. Since I haven't seen any photos of these beautiful yellow birds on any of the threads, I looked them up and am very sad to see that their populations are in decline now. Since we had the house painted last fall, we have had no swallows build a nest on our porch as in past years. Perhaps next year... However a pair of tree swallows have raised a large brood in the birdhouse out in my orange garden. You can hear the chorus of loud chirping as you walk by! Here's one of the parent birds ready to deliver a meal to the little ones. They spend all day, every day, collecting bugs to feed the babies. I expect the small ones will be taking flight shortly and the parents will finally have a well earned rest! It makes me so delighted to have beneficial birds nesting in the house once again now that I have prevailed in my campaign to rid the area of HOSPs (English sparrows). PankajT, nice photo of the red-bellied woodpecker. Seeing these birds in New England is one of the least objectionable effects of climate change, much more welcome than influx of ticks for instance!

Yeah, I've often thought that many (but not all) of the so-called "serious" birdwatchers I have known are deluded when they style themselves as "scientists". The vast majority wouldn't recognize true experimental design if it jumped up and bit them. Many (again not all) of these folks have encyclopedic knowledge when it comes to bird identification, which is no small thing - but that doesn't make one a scientist. Nor does it give one carte blanche to become a bird-botherer. I prefer to do my watching in my own yard, and my listening, and all other birdly activities. Mostly from behind my patio door. I like to plant bird-friendly (and butterfly-and-bee friendly) plants where possible - which is no excuse for my backyard neighbor who planted trumpet vine along the fence, very far up a steep slope from HIS lawn, but leaving me to have to constantly root up the invasive vines all through MY back yard. Has he never heard of cardinal climber??? *sigh* As for feeding the birds - according to actual ornithologists, given that you are feeding appropriately (eg sunflower seeds, not bread crumbs, kind of thing) it does no harm and may do a bit of good in times of stress. Clean water is equally and sometimes more important. I'll not argue about the ecological soundness or lack thereof of the bird seed industry as a whole - but frankly, unless you're cobbling your own shoes from leather-providing animals that you raised on your native pasture; and are weaving your own cloth from the fiber you spun from your own flock of sheep or from the flax you grew and retted yourself, then wove that on the loom you built from wood you cut down on your own wood lot; AND you are making your own pottery cookware from clay you dug yourself - I don't think there's really all that much to say on this issue. The environmental impact of manufacturing the computers we are all using to access this forum on the Internet, and the network of manufacturing, mining, and transportation that supports all that (not to mention terrible working conditions for the workers who assemble the things) almost doesn't bear thinking about - but in any case, the use of birdseed pales in comparison. OK, I'm being a bit facetious - but in the general scheme of things there are far worse things we do on a daily basis than buy a 50 lb bag of BOSS to feed the birds. Most of them involve our ubiquitous use of cars. The number one thing you can do to save the environment (and improve your health) is to leave the car home at every opportunity and walk or ride a bike to get around as much as is possible. This will, btw, also go a long way towards improving the general health of the birds as well. Cleaner air is good for us all!

Susanne, at the risk of peeling the lid back off a little more from that can of worms, and I comment on general concepts, not the specifics of this issue. Generally, pesticides are delivered in such a way as to target the pest with a lethal dose. I think it's accepted that the pesticide is going to be detectable in other areas but hopefully at a level that isn't toxic. We could use the mosquito plane that sprays my area as an example. I really hate when that plane comes over and I go inside since I don't want a dose of malathion but I do still have dragonflies, lightening bugs, and even mosquitoes...and I haven't passed yet either. Caffeine, arsenic, mercury, nicotine, and imidacloprid are all toxic at some level but we do fine consuming them in very low doses. I think the key question in the imidacloprid example is, are bees getting a high enough dose from nectar and pollen to be harmful? I don't know the details or the answer but I do know it's difficult to generalize. Is there data to demonstrate that plants deposit imidacloprid in the nectar and pollen at the same rate as in the leaves? My disclaimer: I also try to avoid using all sorts of products and I even avoid routine dental X-rays because I don't think we know the long-term effects and I just hate it when I get cancer....but I do sparingly use those products from time-to-time because sometimes I don't like the other options I have available.