I've lived in Mobile for 50+ years and I saw my first blue bunting a couple of months ago in my brother's courtyard in downtown Mobile. My heart nearly stopped! I called everyone out of the their offices to see it before it flew away, but bro missed it because he was at the courthouse doing his thing. He still regrets missing the sighting. I've never been down to Dauphin Island during the migrations but after seeing that fella and a scarlet tananger (sp?) a couple of weeks later, also in bro's courtyard, it's tempting. When we see birds like that I believe it highlights the fact that we need to protect their habitats and provide all animals with a rich environment for them to prosper. I don't think we're doing a very good job in my area of encouraging responsible development. Mobile used to be populated with lots of trees. No more. :(

I'm sure your landscape lures more birds into your yard and makes them feel safer when they are visiting your feeders, Gary-. It's great to hear that you have so many wonderful species coming by. I get quite a few goldfinches at a time, too. They seem happiest in flocks, like the chipping sparrows do. But mine LOVE the thistle sock. They will eat sunflower seeds, etc, from the tray feeder, too, but the sock will sometimes be completely covered by clinging birds. Last year they emptied several completely. And they stayed until they were almost in full breeding plumage. It was fun to watch them go from grayish brown and black to brilliant yellow and black. Yep, they are cheerful little birds that brighten the yard, and I'm always sorry to see them go. But when they have buntings with them, both painted and indigo, it's even better. I noticed last year, btw, that the indigo buntings spent as much time picking through the grass as they did on the feeder tray. They were down there with the chipping sparrows an awful lot. Have you seen that, too? Marcia

From the angle of the photo it's harder to tell, but seems to be a male Indigo Bunting. The Blue Grosbeaks are over an inch longer than Indigo Buntings, have heavier bills, larger heads, rusty wing-bars, but the head-on photo makes proportions difficult, and you can't see the wings. I've heard of Indigo Buntings coming to feeders for millet, but never a Blue Bunting. I'd take either one!!

One way is to go to photobucket.com and open a free account. Upload your pictures to that account. After uploading them hover your cursor over them and you will see a box with several lines of code. Click on the one that says 'html code' and it will be saved. Go to your gardenweb post and paste that code where you want the picture to be. You can put more than one in the post. When you preview the pictures will show up where you pasted the codes.