Hi Brenda, If I were you I would take them inside this winter. Then when you get babies next year leave the biggest ones outside just to see how they overwinter outside. A very heavy or hard frost can kill some of them as you know. With my Black Magic, Halo Beauty, and Illustris I brought them in this past winter because I didn't want to take the risk of losing them either. They like water as you know. I did let mine dry out between watering while inside, but I think they would have prefered to be on the moist side most of the time. I am going to do that this year with them. A lot of people leave them outside with mulch on them, but I myself just do not want to risk that just yet. I likes me ee's too much to lose them. And I had to beg for a few new ones I received at the swap LOL. Maybe will trail some next year after I get more babies myself. I am going to try the Illustris this year, I have loads of those now. Maybe someone else who has overwintered them outside can give you some hints, but that is a risk I will not take myself just yet. Sorry I wasn't much help to you I think, Fran

jillmcm: ...We have a very nice woods bordering the east side of our yard that we cleared to ground level, about 15 or so feet back, 8 years ago (accept for the trees and larger saplings and burdock ~ which I enjoy and respect too much to cut back). We leveled the area because the previous owners had used it as a dumping site for waste construction material, & it became a haven for poison ivy and the like. In fighting that nasty plant back off the ground and trees, we all went through a bad time with poison ivy. Worth it. There is now a flourishing old giant umbrella shaped maple [my favorite] & a beautiful holly tree in the back yard, that we transplanted in a prominent place after digging it out of nearly being smothered by poison ivy, as a reminder of that painful/itchy season of endeavor. We, then, just let nature reseed itself in any indigenous way it would, ...while tossing a seed or two in from time to time. Now itÂs thick, beautiful & willful of more space, ...& we are prepared to enhance it with fruiting vines and such...once we get a good list of the MOST effective plants. IÂm thinking wineberry, blackberry, blueberry, sunflowers, buckwheat, Jack-in-the-pulpit, bluebells, goldenrod & some kind of aster ...for starters. There are some cleome, lavender, alyssum, echinacea, coneflower and morning glories there already; I seeded them, ...but probably NONE are indigenous [chuckle] plants. ~You said, "Also, adding a water feature, even something as simple as a glazed saucer with water dripping into it from a suspended milk jug with a pinhole (what I have three of), will bring even more birds in."~ Our water feature is a large concrete bird bath with hanging plants suspended above & to the side; their long branches dangling into the water along the sides of the basin. Sufficient?...or should I install some sort of moving-water device? ~You said, "The only time we've had a mocker in our yard was during a hot spell when they came to drink and bathe."~ Not sure why that notion has gone over my head, ...unless you are speaking of the Northern mockingbird Mimus polyglottos...or the likes of the Blue Mockingbird spoken of in the following poem: http://www.lukecole.com/Birds/Smew.htm Sorry for the wordiness of this post, ...but you have inspired my imagination.

It's not my invention, it's basically a variation of the magic halo, which has been available for quite some times. You can see description at: http://www.sialis.org/halo.htm Unfortunately, the ring is not so effective against breeding pairs of HOSP. The site does have various ideas to deter nesting. I don't have experience with repelling grackles and starlings from nestboxes, but I do notice that starlings do not like to have something that block their view of the sky. A dome of some sort over suet feeder for example seems to deter them. However, it's hard to verify since Starlings don't seemed to come to my yard. Paul

Well Rachel, here I am, back a little wiser and a little chagrined. I walked to my window today only to see four sparrows crowded in my chickenwire-wrapped feeder! You are right, they ARE smart. So... I went out and made all of the larger holes smaller (pinched and wired them, very carefully). Back in the house I go and watch, and the house sparrows flap around and hang from the outside, confounded. A chickadee flies in, gets some seed, flies out, with the sparrows watching. Then one of the sparrows goes around the feeder and zips inside the cage. Then I am the one who is confounded! And to add insult to injury, a sparrow was eating nyjer seed out of the finch feeder! Of course I am a bit discouraged by this, (the cloud of sparrows flying out of my tree made me think of Albert Hitchcock's THE BIRDS), but I think what I'll do is take the feeders down and start over, being very stingy and careful with the seed (and only safflower). I will figure this out and I will check back here at the forum for advice. Thanks for reading my (not uncommon I guess) tale of woe. I might be down but I'm not out!