Supposedly they are very territorial. When they first migrate, they will feed from any feeder that they can find. However once they establish their territories, the males will become very aggressive during mating season and will chase away the others. I used to have over half a dozen at the same feeder about 2 months ago, and then they started fighting more and more often with each other, eventually resulting in lesser numbers. Now I consider myself lucky if I see one or two a day but when they do arrive, they barely stay for more than a couple of seconds and immediately take off whereas I had some of them literally nest on the thing and spend almost the whole day perched on the wire above the feeder. Now, one of them actually comes to the window almost each time, stares at me for a couple of seconds and then takes off on a hurry. In June, I would stand outside refilling the feeders and have them stay 2-3 feet away from me for minutes, not bothered by me or anything else. I also have a regular bird feeder about 4 feet away from the hummer feeder, and recently I have had about a dozen Blue Jays claim that feeder as their own. They are extremely loud birds (crows, magpies and jays are all in the same family), and they may also be scaring the others away when they show up intermittently throughout the day, accompanied with real loud noise. It is almost time for the hummers to migrate, so I won't bother changing anything this year but next year, I will add more hummer feeders and a large feeder for the Jays about 50 feet away from the other two, further away into the yard.

Marilyn, a bear knocking out my kitchen window would make me crazy! Not in the daytime, but won't they get bolder? Deer do. About feeders, my ones on shepherd's hooks in the front yard have been okay at night. However, we have had to bring the deck feeders in at night for about a month because they were raided several times, each time rougher and more aggressively.. The first few times, they were just dry in the morning, and a suet feeder was not touched. Then the;y were dry and one knocked down, suet still left alone. Finally, .they were knocked down and the suet feeder completely eaten out, mud in the birdbath underneath. We thought maybe raccoons. If I thought it was a bear, I would want to buy an elephant gun. I certainly would have to bring them in at dusk because I'd be too afraid to venture out there at night.

Dandelion seeds. Not what you probably want to plant but real fun watching goldfinches attact the seed heads from the air. When one piece of fluff gets away they do all kinds of acrobatics to catch the seed. Plant some zinna's and other of the plant foods recomended for your area. In my area the finches are on their nests and are less likely to visit feeders. When fledged they will sometimes come to the feeders. Watch for sparrow like birds on the ground near the feeders. The baby birds will put their wings out and shake them to get parents attention. Baby finches do not have the same coloration that mature birds do.

Wow that arbor was a steal!! I assume it's one of those heavy plastic ones? Nice. It's gonna look great out there when everything gets going! Are you using that wheelbarrow as a planter? My husband brought home two old ones from his mom's house when it sold a couple yrs ago. The tires were flat and they were really rusty. We already had a nice big one, so I had him drill a few holes in the bottom and I just planted some mini roses, snapdragons and petunias in them! They're out in the veggie pen. I love feeding the birdies too! Started with the hummies, then the wild birds. And now it's the chickies! My husband and younger son were out hoeing up that horrible foxtail grass out of some of the walkways down below. We can't afford for our dumb dog to get those damn things in her paw again! The rain made all that crap come back with a vengeance! The foxtail and wild carrot (not sure what it really is) are about 3ft tall! The chickens won't eat it tho. I guess it's too rough. Oh, Irisgal, I think SDMLV does blow kinda fast. That bloom is about two days old. I didn't detect any scent on her whatsoever. I was kinda expecting a nice perfume...