Hi! Sorry that I have not replied until now. I have been SOO nusy in my garden and in others gardens! LOL I have several Amur Maples in my backyard that are doing wonderful! In this area they seem to do better than in other places west of I-15. I have mine in soil that I classify as "Even heavier clay" LOL I have tried to did into the soil to plant hosta and ferns and other shade loving plants, but I can not get a little hand shovel to go in more than an inch or so. Daylillies do wonderful in just about any area. Stella d'oros are stunning when planted with a contrasting color such as purples and oranges. You might want to let your neighbors know that their water is running off into your yard, this tells me that they are over watering. They might want to cut back watering times to intervals... say they water for 20 minutes, but ten or more minutes the water is running off.... Suggest to them to water in the morning for five minutes, then have their sprinklers on a curcuit and each station water for those five minutes. Then repeat the cycle 4 times.... They still get their 20 minutes of watering in, but it all goes to their lawn.... not yours. I would love to take a look at your yard and give you some pointers. You can email me @ jkeamommy@yahoo.com Have an awesome day! SongBirdMommy :-)

Absolutely Lesser Goldfinch. By the way, I don't know how much time you spent looking at warbler pics, but you would have saved yourself that effort by noting the bill shape: warblers have much thinner bills. Bill shape and size is often a good clue to point you in the right direction; bright colour patterns you'll likely remember without trying, but the bill really needs to be looked at (unless we're talking about a toucan or spoonbill etc). Just a friendly hint. -O-

Like all orioles, they are very loud :-) The first time I ever saw one, I was living in N. Indiana. We had a very long one story ranch style house in the country on 5 acres, and tons of wildlife. I had cedar bushes in front of my master bedroom windows, and the bedroom was situated at the furthest most northern corner of the house. I had hung up a humming bird feeder there, so I could watch the Ruby Throated Hummingbird, which I had never seen before (having been born and raised in S. California). I was in the kitchen one morning, and had all the windows open in the house. The kitchen was at the exact opposite end of our house. All of a sudden, I could hear a bird singing it's heart out, VERY loudly. I had a thought that maybe a bird had actually gotten into the house it was so loud. I started following the sound, and ended up walking the entire length of our house to the master bedroom, and there was a gorgeous Baltimore Oriole sitting on the hummingbird feeder, singing his big ole heart out. Our Hooded Orioles here in S. California also have a beautiful song, but mostly, they make this territorial sound, or a lot of chattering. They love the oriole and hummingbird feeders I put out, as well as our Giant Bird of Paradise white flowers. So, we have tons of them in our yards due to perfect nesting areas and great eats! Sadly though today, I found a juvenile Black Headed Grossbeak dead under my kitchen window. I wasn't sure what it was at first, since the juveniles do not sport totally black heads. But, I had an adult male at my suet cake this morning, and I remembered that yesterday a bird hit our upstairs laundry room window extremely hard (as in unlikely to survive hard). I couldn't find any sign of a dead bird yesterday, but found the little guy this morning. I don't see the Grossbeaks that often at my feeders, and thought they were more migrating through, but guess I must have had a nest in my yard. So sad to lose one of the babies. Patty S.

Glad you figured it out! Red eyed vireos are some of the birds who seem to talk constantly. If you have one around, you'll hear it so often, you'll never forget it. :)