Can't imagine how such a tiny bird survives your usual winters, much less this one. Even here at 36 degrees high today I saw birds almost doubled in size due to puffing out their feathers for better insulation. They do have pretty good protection from wind and rain in the big Magnolias and Cedars...do you have large evergreen trees nearby? josh

I did an internet search of Cucak rowo and the term "flora" on Google and found an Indonesian website where a person had links to a plant they called Cucak rowo. It had bird-like green flowers. Unfortuanately it seems there was no botanical name given. I then did a search for "flower that looks like a bird" on a different search engine than Google and came across a forum thread that had a similar looking plant to the person on the Indonesian website. The poster providing the pictures (see link) said it had originated from Indonesia and is called "Bird flower" plant. She wanted to know the scientific name of the plant. The "birds" on the plant refer to its green flowers and they look like the Pedilanthus flowers seen on the Zig Zag plant, except those are red. Pedilanthus is in the Euphorbiaceae family and I believe they can also be referered to as Euphorbia. The name of the plant may be Pedilanthus tehuacanus (Euphorbia tehuacana) because it is a Pedilanthus described as having green flowers. Possible identification

Jane, if you only have one feeder out, you might try a good mixture with black oil sunflower seeds stirred into it. Don't get the cheapie kind with those little reddish-brown "BB's" in it. I have never seen ANYTHING actually eat those. I get mine at PetSmart, and I really love the Stokes mixture that has no hulls in it. I feed it, black oiler sunflowers and safflower seed. Safflower seed goes into a feeder that doesn't have squirrel protection, because they don't really like it, but cardinals and titmice do. HOWEVER, no matter what you are feeding, there will be times when birds are not around for various reasons. I have hardly any right now, mostly due to a pair of hawks hanging about our neighborhood. And even without the hawks, birds often disappear for a few weeks now and then. One more thing...don't forget that WATER is probably even more important than seed in luring birds to your yard. You'll notice that most of Maureen's pictures feature her great birdbath. Be sure to provide several "baths" around the yard. They can be anything from decorative features to trashcan lids on the ground with 2" of water in them. I often turn clay pots upside down and put a clay saucer on top for water. Keep the water CLEAN and shallow, maybe even adding a rock in the center for birds to stand on. Good luck! Marcia

Inspiring pics, Celestial! I loved the bumblebees. I miss seeing chipmunks (we had them in Va.), and the squirrel I saw up close most recently was in an unmentionable condition on my rug (thanks to Houdini-one of my cats). The squirrel at the corn feeder was so cute! Lots to look at in those pics. I love my sunflowers too and so do the goldfinches. Thanks for sharing! Brandy