My husband made a raised table for me. It's about three feet high (a 4 x 4 post) and the table top is about 2 x 3. My crows get dried dog food every morning and if I have meat scraps for dinner they get those late in the day. They like fish scraps, chicken hearts, peanuts, cooked spaghetti (sans the sauce), leftover fruit .. just about any scraps I have they enjoy. Be careful with chips and crackers as I have read that salt is very bad for birds ... can't place the article right now, but google it maybe. When I go out to fill my tray feeders with black oil sunflower seeds for the birds and squirrels I call for the crows and they show up and start making a lot of noise. I know many people dislike them, but they are so fascinating to watch and really are beautiful birds. I love my crows. This year I have a pair nesting in my back yard and I can watch them from inside my living room and not disturb them. They are very sweet together and make all sorts of lovely little noises to each other. I enjoy having them in my yard. The funniest thing I've seen them doing lately is following squirrels around and digging up the peanut they just buried. The squirrels are clueless. lol They had me laughing out loud watching them last week. I kept giving the squirrels peanuts just to keep the game going. Cheap entertainment for me. :)

Planting and maintaining native flowering plants known to attract hummingbirds is always the best option for feeding hummingbirds. The list, both native and non-native, is extensive, but the friendly folks on the Hummingbird Garden forum are always happy to share their knowledge. Check out What Plants Attract Hummingbirds in Your Garden. For a special hummingbird treat, try putting out an opened banana on a plate. The fruit should attract fruit flies, and hummingbirds love to eat fruit flies. (A side benefit to this is that you may also attract a wide variety of butterflies as well.) Hummingbirds like to bathe just as much as any other bird, but prefer water dripping off of leaves or spray coming from sprinklers and pond fountains. Try locating one of the many commercial "misters" amongst a leafy bush or tree. Any number of small birds will enjoy it as much as the hummers.

I've had toads here for years long before there was a liner type pond next door. They prefer larger bugs, especially june bugs and they favor being near a light, such as a porch light to catch anything that walks by or that isn't more than 3 or 4 inches above the ground which is as high as they can hop, usually its a beetle, something walking or something landing, The biggest bug I've seen them eat are tree locusts, which takes a while and the wings stick out the sides of their mouths as their eyes roll back. Each toad hunts in the same spot every night. Ours hatch out where the water keeps the ground wet by the air conditioner, I always see lots of teeny tiny babies under there each summer but I've seen tadpoles swimming in puddles within a day or so of rain. They like rocks and places to hide, often just a hole in the ground is good or at the base of a plant, I often run into them and dig one up sleeping in winter when working on my soil. Toads spend their life on the ground not in trees, all they want is a cool place to dig into during the day, trees aren't necessary. They also love to nestle in flower pots with damp potting soil if its in the shade and often uproot small plants doing that.

Hello again, and thanks again so much to both of you for your help. If you don’t mind I still have a handful of questions and would be so appreciative of any more advice. In terms of putting down pea gravel and not mulch it’s because the area is kind of on a slight side hill and I didn’t want the mulch washing away during heavy rains into my neighbor’s yard, plus the area is close to my house and my soil is very clayish and holds moisture the way it is and didn’t really want to encourage anymore moisture near the foundation. However the more I’ve read about this idea, it sounds like I should possibly use something a bit bigger than pea gravel so it doesn’t get suck in my pup’s paws, etc. So is there something that encourages the Tall Fescue and Oxalis to grow as I’m fairly certain the tall fescue is growing in areas that I “repaired” from dog pee and the seed shouldn’t have had any tall fescue in it. I’m still a paranoid that I’m pulling more areas that I think are tall fescue that possibly aren’t so here are some more pictures to hopefully confirm that what I’m seeing is indeed tall fescue. In terms of other areas that I recently repaired and if I see some of the seedlings/grass growing taller than the others what does that mean? Are those weeds, tall fescue? Am I better off trying to pull them now then dealing with them later? I’m mainly just trying to figure out what is the best use of my time and resources at this point since I’m in the Midwest and summer is almost over anyway ☹ I’ve attached some pics which hopefully helps explain my questions. So is is Tall fescue mixed in right? Is this more tall fescue mixed in and then see the few sprouts of brighter green grass, which is from new seed as this is an area I reseeded this year. Are those brighter tall sprouts weeds or... another example of an area that I reseeded....the brighter thicker strands that are kind of curled over are what? In general what type of grass is in this photo and is the thicker bladed stuff tall fescue near the bottom of the photo or something else? I get confused cause it doesn't seem real "clumpy" Is this a weed or a type of grass? I'm assuming this is a weed or type of bad grass here mixed in, notice the whiteish/reddish blades Well again, thanks so much for all your help, it's so greatly appreciated!!