Well my Resident has moved in...but we right now have had some chilly mornings..wonder if he'll stay... ? I have noticed from other areas that have posted about hummers they have more than one that can feed at a feeder...sure wish they'd get along here...guess it's like people..not too many get along in the neighborhood...LOL. Christy sorry to hear you haven't seen any yet... Hummer Steve..I'll make sure I spread the word to those daring critters...You've got good juice :) If we have more cold mornings our hummers might pack it up Have a good evening everyone God Bless ! BarbZeee

I have found 9-pound bags of a mix of mostly millet with some sunflower seed and, I think, safflower seed, at a dollar-type store here called Big Lots. $7 per bag. Birds gobble it up in winter, but in the winter they'll eat anything; in the spring they are picky, kicking out the milo for the pigeons and doves, so I stop feeding them and concentrate on hummingbirds and, this year, suet for Ladderback and Downy woodpeckers. Also I have nyger thistle feeders (both metal mesh feeder and sock feeder) out for our sweet, tiny lesser goldfinches. To complete my first post in this forum, I spotted and got pictures of a male Northern Cardinal this morning, a rare sighting for our area (Albuquerque). A similar male bird (the same one??) was reported a few miles further north back in February. I also photographed a rare Vermillion Flycatcher in April. Maybe more birds are moving into my state -- and I'll have figure out how to feed them if they visit my apartment complex :)

It took the birds 6 months to find my nyjer feeder when I first put it out. When they finally found it, the goldfinches attracted other birds to my other feeders. I had them hanging off the bottom of our seldom-used 2nd story deck, so they were semi-shaded. I also made a "bird bath" out of a boot tray - it was less than an inch deep and a good 2' long and about 16" wide. It was black, so I wouldn't put something like that out in the sun. I changed the water and scrubbed it out every day, and "sterilized" with vinegar (and rinsed and scrubbed again) about once a week. I sterilized the scrub brush in a bucket of bleach water overnight before sterilizing the "bird bath" the next day, so that the brush was fresh and clean for the post-vinegar-bath scrubbing. So - the night before, on cleaning day - I dump and scrub the bird bath; then fill it with vinegar; put the brush in the bleach water. Next morning, dump the bleach water and the vinegar thoroughly rinse the brush and let it dry in the sun (helps drive off any remaining chlorine). scrub out with the sterilized brush Thoroughly rinse the bird bath; start over again This winter I hope to make a large ceramic platter (I'm an amateur potter) with a glazed interior that will tolerate being sterilized with a bleach solution. I plan to bury that to it's lip in one of my raised beds and keep it filled with water via a dripper line. I'll make something similar for use as a butterfly puddler. Having a water feature can only help in attracting birds, but patience will help as well. One thing I would suggest is to get rid of the "songbird mix" and feed only black oil sunflower seed, safflower seed, and nyjer (in a tube feeder), in the way of seed. Every "songbird mix" I've ever seen has a high proportion of "junk" seed in it which attracts house sparrows, to your peril. At my former residence, they weren't much of a problem, but here they have mobbed my feeder to the point where I had to stop using it. They even scared my hummers away, as well as the mountain jays, mountain blue birds, and quail. Sadly, their seed scattering ways seemed to actually ATTRACT pigeons, LOL! I'm going to try to put the sunflower seed (which has to be hulled due to the former owner of this place having put in Astroturf - impossible to clean sunflower hulls out of) in a mesh feeder that only clingers can use and see if that helps. Otherwise, it's hummingbird feeders and the quail block, and the nyjer mesh feeders I have, and that's all I'll be able to put out here. Maybe an upside-down tube feeder. But nothing for the house sparrows!

Thanks to all. Greenthumbfish, I saw that stencil at Hobby Lobby. I ended up passing on it because the repeat on the pattern was so small. I was afraid it might end up too busy. I wish they would have made a bigger stencil! Parma, I agree with you 100%. I think that day, my stiff upper lip was already starting to quiver b/c of the rest of the chaos I was having to be so strong about. Handling critique and suggestions (albeit harmless and trying to be helpful) that I had not solicited was just more than I could stand, especially when I thought I was pretty clear on the nature of the post. Again, it had nothing to do with the comments, and everything to do with the timing. Sometimes you just can't hear how you can be "better", especially when as you explained, "better" is so subjective to personal style. I will remember your words, though, and will make sure to laugh at myself as I count my accessories! Puna, I have to say I'm pretty dismayed as well. For the life of me, I can't figure out how removing those comments was necessary or helpful. (Yours and several others, including some of mine!) Ugh. LaFonda, yes, my stomach went into knots when the property manager called and said I needed to get over there immediately because water was "everywhere". I thought he was exaggerating. He wasn't. Ugh again. Joanie, I don't think I'll stop, but I think I may definitely change how I post photos. This post has served as very clear reminder of how some people think, and knowing I can't change that, all I can do is change how much of it I set myself up for. Patty, you got the whole point of the post; I was delighted to find something so pretty when I was going through something so horrid. Thanks for "getting it."