Aggressive... yes. I guess I am. Perhaps I should mention that prior to my current newbie attempts to turn a sterile acre of weed infested grass into a garden with interest and character, my entire experience of growing trees from saplings was with bonsai. I'm absolutely okay with a multi-trunked river birch. My neighbour across the road has a gorgeous specimen, that's about 15 years old. I'm just unsure of whether this little sapling has the potential to be a good multi-trunked tree or if it'd be better off with a single trunk. The tree itself came from Shooting Star in KY and was $12 plus shipping (I got some other trees at the same time). I'm more than happy to take some additional pictures. The tot just went down for his nap and it's nice and clouded out there, so now would probably be a good time. As for planting depth, that's how it arrived. Maybe the nursery repotted it just prior to sending it to me? Certainly the soil it was potted in was very loose. I will concede that maybe some fell off as I was putting in the hole but I didn't pull any soil off it. :) (No offense taken, just explaining what I did.)

ctnchpr - Thank you for letting me know that they will be leaving their nest at about 21 days old. We will miss them : ( How likely is it that this female hummingbird will return to the same nest next year (or whenever she has more eggs)? - Laurie

Renee: I really wonder if she will nest more than three times, regardless of how early she starts. In 2005 we had an early Spring here in Virginia and my first brood hatched out on March 3rd. I was so excited, thinking she might nest four times. When the third brood fledged in late June I really thought there was a chance. I cleaned out the nest box hopefully but she showed no interest at all. She had fledged 13 new bluebirds and she was DONE! I have heard that it has happened on rare occasion, but I have never talked to anyone who actually witnessed it. Anyone here ever see it first hand? Dave

Good to here someone has activity! You of course have read of my troubles with the swallows and the fact that my blues are wasting time and doing nothing. 1 TRES nest completed, 1 almost complete. This time last year I had a completed BB nest and 5 eggs. This year, not one completed BB nest and no absolute claims for the boxes. Why are they being so slow???? It's not much of a wonder why they suffer competition problems...how did they not go extinct during the decline of the 1800's? I've lost plenty of female BBs and nest attempts. Although every season got better with the exception of this year. Ahh, Time to quit rambling! Good luck! Heck, you're lucky to have them nesting! Mine are just wasting time and boring me. -Tim-