Well I've partly figured out my own question though I would still value input. I googled that Mugo Pine is very hard to determine how big its going to get unless you know a lot about the source. The plant tag I have is very generic. So I guess I would rather not risk it on the south side even though it might not be as hardy for the north side (where there is more room) but thats where one of them is going to go. Not sure where to put the other. Birds nest spruce does not seem open enough for bird use and size can also be pretty variable even when you have a tag that gives a latin name. Hopefully its not too sunny, hot and windy/exposed on the south for it. Unfortunately yew's are great for that, birds love to hide inside yews, but I don't want one.

There is a place in Garland that sells it for $12 a bale. Ouch! If you get desparate, email me and I'll see if I can find the name. I got two bales this year and they weren't exactly fresh, but I don't think the birds will care.

HAHAHA, in all of the years we have been married, we have never gone out to get a cat we have had dozens of drop offs over the years. Just one was a hunter but that meant he hunted everything, frogs, toads, birds and even butterflies. I guess we spoiled them, lol If you are close enough to make it worth your while come rake and bag what I have To correct myself, the young copperheads aren't really copper but I still don't see them in the pine straw jolana

I'm still trying to get an answer as to why "non-native" birds are "trash", while humans get a free pass. Would anyone like to answer? As far as feeders go, the most signifant reason people have feeders in their yards, birders or non-birders, is for their own entertainment. I could care less how many different types of birds people "get to see" in their yards! Animals do not exist on this earth for the purpose of human entertainment. They are here for their own reasons. As far as rehabbing indivisual birds goes, I have rehabbed several birds who flew into my window and were knocked unconcsious. I do it to help out an animal that needs medical care, which I would do for any aniaml or person I saw injured, not because I want to preserve the existance of some taxonomical abstraction. Sorry but your words sound very callous and cold-hearted. You may not be specifically saying you want Starlings torutured, but your attitude towards them is what has spurned the latest craze I see in the conservation movement, which is this focus on the blaming and killing of other animals in the name of saving "native species" rather than habitiat preservation and drastically reduced consumption of resources. I don't believe it's the place of humans, the most non-native and destructive of them all, to determine which animals live and which ones die, while we do everything to ensure the life of every human is as long and pain-free as possible. It's just plain hypocritical and unethical.