Doncha just LOVE the little, bright-eyed things? Buttterflyy, your pictures are fantastic! To attract more, have plenty of thick shrubs and trees for them. They like lots of cover. And they dearly love safflower seeds, which the squirrels mostly don't. They are not fussy about the type of birdfeeder they will use, and are fond of general seed mix with plenty of black oiler sunflower seeds added. You usually hear them calling loudly to each other before you see the first ones swooping in. A loud "PEEE-oh, PEEE-oh" along with some chipping that sounds a lot like cardinals alerts me that they are on their way in. Once in a great while, you might see a Carolina chickadee traveling with them, though usually they are either with a few warblers, or just a small flock of titmice by themselves. Enjoy them! They are just super little birds! Marcia

Good morning Doubting Thomas, The Birdwatcher's Digest article is interesting, and the picture is so upsetting to see. In our yard, I have seen praying mantids nibbling away at dead frogs or small dead birds, particularly hummers and finches. I cannot verify that they killed the frogs and birds themselves, but they were preying upon them. This type of activity has been most common here where we live in HORRIBLE grasshopper years. My theory is that, when all my farming and ranching neighbors go nuts constantly spraying broad-spectrum insecticides, these insecticides kill off enough bugs that those which remain must eat prey which they might not otherwise eat. I have a hummingbird feeder hanging right outside my kitchen window, which enables me to keep an eye on that feeder. Some years, I have to go outside and literally 'rescue' a hummer that a mantid is trying to attack. The mantid will sit on top of the feeder and wave its arms at the hummer. I am not sure if the mantid is trying to grab the hummer, or knock it away from feeder or what. I 'rescue' the hummer by chasing it away from the feeder long enough for me to kill the mantid. For some reason, the mantids LOVE to sit on the hummingbird feeders. I have seen 2 or 3 mantids 'fight' for possesion of a hummingbird feeder. Since moving to the country almost a decade ago, I have been somewhat shocked to see what a 'dog-eat-dog' world exists in the natural world. I mean, I knew all about the food chain.....but seeing everything eat everything else on a daily basis really opened my eyes to how 'violent' the natural world is. For what it is worth, I tend not to believe this kind of thing unless I see it with my own eyes, so I understand your doubt. I also have cats and chickens who hang out around the pond and catch and eat frogs. I never knew either one of them would eat frogs until I saw it happen. At least it explains why my big back cat is SO big....and, also, it explains where all the frogs are disappearing too. Want to see something fun.....watch a couple of chickens fight over a frog! Dawn

Thanks everyone, We're always filled with anticipation as nesting season approaches, and we love to share our birds :) Kris- Yes we have hawks quite often here. We don't always see them, but we know when our birds do. So far we've been pretty lucky that they usually take a House Sparrow or Starlling rather than our beloved native songbirds. But we did lose one Titmouse to a Cooper last year. Not sure there's much to do about them... they are majestic creatures which share the habitat with all the other birds... and they must eat. We do always fear for our favorites of course, but we love the hawks too, and try to photograph them when we can. Here are a couple of shots of them... Cooper's Hawk: Redtail: Thanks again, and happy birding all. Kenn

So far the only other birds are the titmouse family. I have some pics on my other thread "Sandra's Bluebirds". So far no HOSP have found it yet, but I'm working on taking them out. We've been luring the birds to another area and using a bb gun. I got the blind on ebay. It's just a chair with a tent over it, with a cup holder!! But it's nice to be able to move around and shift a bit and not disturb the birds doing it. I still had to listen for the blues and be ready to shoot.. they would fly off if my camera moves too much inside the blind. But so far they have done some calls each time they arrive. I have a bed of impatience and some of this mossy stuff that is in bloom now that would make some awesome pictures. I bought these tomato stakes that have a round horizontal loop at the top. I unwound that loop a bit to fit a small dish. I'm going to use that to lure them to photo areas.. I'll use a small pvc base to move it around until I get them going to where I want them.. then lay the dish in the flowers or use the stake to prop them up to the right height inside flowers. I did this last year and got pictures with some pics with boy blue and daffidils.