There is a pair of Western Kingbirds that arrive in May or June in our area...same tree in my neighbor's yard. After I got our yard cleared of all the junk and weeds about 4 years ago, I began to notice them sitting on the wires watching for bugs to feed the babies. This year they were a big help with the squash bugs...the parents were kept busy feeding as many as 4 begging babies. But they left earlier than usual (are we in for an early Winter? it's much cooler than normal and has been for the last month). When they left the squash bug population exploded and wiped out the squash and most of the cucumbers and some of my small melons. I resorted to squishing them with my fingers as I watered and pulling all the squash plants. I planted some Fall squash and I'm hoping they do not return! Peggy

Oh my....I feel like I live in an autobahn society research center! lol. We have so many birds this year...more than we have ever had before. Tons of Barn Swallows! Remember early in the spring when I complained they were nesting on the neighbors front porch and trying to nest on my patio? Well we didn't allow them to nest here but they were not all raised on my neighbors porch either...lol. There are so many of them. And I am hoping we are having Purple Martins as some of our black birds...there are a couple of Martin houses a few houses down. And Grackles fly through often....I run them off each time I see them as I just hate those loud obnoxious birds. Sparrows have taken over my yard. I plan to plug or remove the bird houses I have on my fences when they are done with them....the population of sparrows is just too high in my yard. Each time I go out there is loud constant chirping out there coming from every part of the yard and sparrows all over the place. Those fledgling sparrows are so loud-mouthed...hahaha. I have been seeing a type of bird and I have no idea what it is. It is sort of large..larger than a Robin, has a yellow breast and a sort of olive green back with white cheeks. I have been all through my bird book and several times on a great bird I.D. site on the net but have still not been able to identify this bird. I have seen one or two in my yard and one in my mom's courtyard area yesterday as well, which is a few blocks from me. I am waiting for a better and closer look at one so I can identify it better. Each time I see one I don't have my binoculars handy. We have some robins and mockingbirds who pass through also. And occasionally a mourning dove. I have not been able yet to attract Cardinals to my yard. I had a pair of them visit a few times a couple of weeks ago so went and bought a new bird feeder and some black sunflower seeds only have them leave. I really want to attract cardinals as they are my fav bird. I saw a hummer on my calabrochoa a few days ago...but I have not seen any visiting my odd little feeders I put out after we lost our kitty. They are stakes which I put in the ground and have a small feeder with a large pink flower on them...lol. If the birds are coming to them I have not seen them yet. One thing I can say for sure...I don't seem to have a high mosquito population right now with all the birds I have flying around. But I am hoping that will continue to be true after all this rain we have gotten now. I thought I heard wrens around my back fence a few days ago...but didn't see them. I also love wrens and I have wondered what has happened as we normally have quite a few. The neighbors pigeons still fly around on and off all day. And I found out that the 'OWL' I called "our neighborhood owl" is not an owl at all...it is the sound a Mourning Dove makes. Dad taught me to "blow my fist" when I was a child to make that sound and I have thought all my life it was an owl sound....lol. NOT! Still learning-although much more slowly-at over 50...lol. G.M.

I have wondered if not enough or not having the right kind of trees is my problem in getting cardinals to come. I only have evergreens in front yard and those are not the huge kind. I have NO large trees in back yard where I want cardinals....we have lost several due to the soil problem...at least I assume that is the problem. Now we have built my craft cottage (12 X 20 plus front porch) so with the small garden shed and DH's work shop as well as leaving space to park an almost 36 foot 5th wheel we don't have lots of room inside the back fence left for large trees......lol. What to do? The cardinals are around Dawn...at the lake they are abundant. But there are cedar trees everywhere. I always take bird seed when we go to the lake. The cardinals love the black sunflower sees and will eat them any way I serve them....on the ground, patio, grill, feeder, you name it...lol. One was particularly bold last time we were out and he would just come right up to me for me to drop seed on the patio for him. I think he might have gotten bold enough to eat from my hand. I have had them at other places I have lived but this area is not an old area and the trees are not huge yet and not lots of them either. I think the lack of evergreens or fruit bearing trees may be the problem with them but that is just a guess. I do have thick hedge of photinias which are large in my back yard but I need some kind of larger tree...I will have to find where I can plant one....I wish me luck...lol. I am so tired of sparrows....we are way over populated with them and the last few days they come by what seems to be hundreds and are all making racket in the tree next door. I don't recall them ever doing this before and have wondered what is up. Well I will just have to read up on it and find what I can manage do to try to attract them...I just love cardinals and really want to find a way to have them here. We got more rain last night. I am getting so discouraged with our boggy yard. We need to go pick up our new 5th wheel and take ours to trade it in but it HAS to dry up before we can get it out. As soon as we see it has dried we will have to get ours out of the yard while we can. What a problem this is for us right now. I worked all day yesterday packing up everything in the trailer and storing it in my craft cottage....you should see the trails I made in the yard going back and forth...and what a hassle taking off shoes and putting them on each time I went in and out of our trailer to keep from messing it up! I am SICK AND TIRED OF RAIN. I hope it doesn't rain any more for the rest of summer! Looking at the weather forecasts are just plain depressing. I shall stop watching them...they never get it right anyway. They should say "plan for it to rain every day" and be done with it. UGH! Ya'll have a great and DRY day. G.M.

whenever I hear people discussing ways to discourage the sparrow I have to ask myself why? As You can easily see from my photo's when there is an abundant supply of food the birds will all mingle well. From my observation it is only when the food is in short supply that they really begin to be territorial. The question then becomes, why is the seed in short supply? No doubt the answer here is simple economics. People don't care to spend a lot of money on expensive birdseed, only to have it consumed by the less desirable birds and they don't get to see the species they are really interested in. From my experience the solution here is to shop around for your wild bird seed. By example, we have a local store that caters specifically to feeding and attracting wild birds. They sell a general mix of wild bird seed for $15 for a 20lb bag. On the other hand, Walmart has 20lb bags of the same seed for $10, however at Walmart it is a seasonal item and by now you probably can't find it. How would you like to find a year around source that has a better selection at prices far below the average retail store prices? In almost every community there is a store that specializes in selling feed, grain and hay for horses or farm animals. When my sister goes to the feed mill to buy feed for her horses I tag along and buy 50# bags of premium wild bird seed (mixed seed & peanuts) for $12 plus I buy a 50# bag of black oilseed sunflower seed for another $13. I then mix the two together and I end up with a premium blend for an average of $.25/lb. If you cannot find a Feed & grain supply in your community check out TSC (Tractor Supply Co.) TSC is also a great place to find feeders of all types for prices far below what you find in the regular retail stores, but then feeders are so simple to build i don't see why anyone would pay the prices they ask in most stores. While we are on the subject of bird feed, you may be surprised at how much you throw away every month without realizing it. When you bake a ham or a roast trim off the excess fat and put that in your suet feeder, the birds love it. At my house we all love to eat acorn or butternut squash. When you hollow out the seeds put them out for the birds, here again, they love it. Making a salad? Save the carrot peelings of the birds and by all means, be sure to save your orange or grapefruit peelings. I have seen a Bluejay grab an entire half section grapefruit peel and fly it up into the pine tree. Stale popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, breakfast cereal and cookies all go over well with the birds and as silly as it may sound, even leftover porky beans, whole kernel corn or green beans will quickly disappear when the birds find them. As you can see, I have taken feeding the birds rather seriously however to tell the truth it is more an means to an end. Since I retired last June I have taken up nature photography as a hobby, and since it is a bit too cold to get out in the woods like i would like to do, this is a way i can bring nature to me while i comfortably sit in the house...LOL. Gein that the subject of this thread was how to attract cardinals I thought i might post a couple more Cardinal Picks, along with one of my favorite pics of a Bluejay.