My summer tanager visited again this morning, and I was able to get a couple of pictures. Wish I could have gotten closer or that my camera had a better zoom, but at least I can prove to doubters that he was there. (It is NOT common to have one this time of year in central Florida, and especially at a feeder. It's a shame those birds don't read the books, so they know how they are REALLY supposed to behave!!) After grabbing each peanut, the tanager would fly up into the oaks or the bamboo to eat it. It's amazing how a bird this brightly colored can almost disappear into the foliage. You could only see him when the direct sunlight hit him. I need a new camera and when I get it, it is going to have a much higher zoom!! Marcia

Dorothy, When I have big bites out of tomatoes that low to the ground, it often st turtles. The turtles we have here love tomatoes and will stand on their hind legs with their back feet on the ground and will eat tomatoes as high up as they can reach, and we have some huge turtles with shells about as big as a dinner plate, so they can reach surprisingly high into the plants. They use the tomato cage or the plant itself to brace themselves against as they eat the toamto. It also might be possums. At my house, it also could be Duke, our rottweiler-mix who loves tomatoes, whether green or red. I've only had deer close enough to the house to eat the hollyhocks in the front porch flower bed once this year, but they are coming closer every day. I've been putting out deer corn for the nursing moms and the ones with young fawns the last couple of weeks, but I put that pretty far from the house. I know the deer are getting desperate because they are letting themselves be seen in the side yard between the woods and the house even in the middle of the day. I have to watch carefully if I go into the side yard on the north side of the house during the day or I find myself too uncomfortably close to deer. You know they are hungry, too, because instead of looking at me, freezing, and then turning and running, they look at me, stomp their feet and snort air out their nostrils, which I interpret as them telling me to "go away" (and I do back away and go back inside). I don't know what they are trying to eat on the north side of the house. All I have there is southern wax myrtle, purple wintercreeper, wisteria and Virginia creeper. My apple-growing neighbor who lives about 1/2 mile from us as the crow flies and is right on the river so has abundant deer keeps them away from his apple trees by putting a radio in the tree and playing it at night. The deer won't touch those apple trees when the radio is on, but they'll wipe out the garden that is a few feet away. He puts it in a ziplock bag to keep the moisture out. Susan, That's too bad about the sunflowers. When my sunflowers topple over in storms, as long as enough of the root is in the ground, I leave them there. They look awful, but the blooms still are useful to the wildlife. We've had one blooming about 2 weeks now, and now a second one is blooming. Not many even sprouted this year and most of them were eaten, likely by deer, before they had a chance to get very big. That's great that your plant started blooming after the rain. Sometimes it is amazing how much even a little rain helps. We had more rainfall overnight, so our 2-day rain total now is 0.20". Pathetic, but better than 0.0". Dawn

It looks good for Summer Tanager to me. Sibley's guide does show some WI records, and you're close enough to the range shown in Natl Geographic for the bird not to be completely unexpected. Pretty cool bird, congrats. -O-

Thanks! The Hooded Warbler male pulling on the cocoon happened just as I was getting up to shut down my camera and try somewhere else after an hour of waiting..typical! Two days ago when there was a break in the storms we drove up on Poppy Mnt at sunset and got a few pics from the car as we drove around 6-9-09, Poppy Mnt barn, adult male Barn Swallow, 6:15 p.m. Time for a stretch.. From 6-5-09, birds Then to the right.. From 6-5-09, birds ..flex those shoulders.. From 6-5-09, birds Much better! From 6-5-09, birds We drove to an access rd that overlooked a steep gully and saw several Yellow-billed Cuckoos flying around but they didn't come close enough for good photos. However, someone did 6-9-09, Poppy Mnt, male Red-eyed Vireo, 6:48 p.m. From 6-5-09, birds From 6-5-09, birds