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. :(

This is only my second year to have Orioles and I've never seen a nest. John - Do you know what kind of trees your neighbor has that they like? Last year, the Orioles stayed around for a little while and then disappeared so they must've nested in someone else's yard - not mine. This year they showed up about a week earlier than last year. I've seen as many as 4 males at a time in our dogwood tree where I've been feeding them. The females aren't around as much and I've only seen two. Here's a picture of my "Orange Tree" The darker one in the middle may be an Orchard Oriole. It was rainy. Here's a close-up of a Baltimore Oriole at the feeder.

If I were you once your female starts laying eggs, add a wren guard to the box just to be on the safe side. A wren will go into any nestbox that they see a hole in, not to nest but to evict anything that is in there. A wren will peck the eggs and throw them or baby birds from nestboxes. I have attached a link (below) for helpful info on wrens and wren guards. Look at the guard about 2/3 of the way down the page where it says Drawing of Wren Guard. I believe it shows it made out of wood but you can easily make it out of cardboard and just duct tape it to the box. That is what I do, lots of people use cheezit boxes. You definately want to do this after you see the first egg and not before or they may abandon the nest. Start out simple with like the picture shows but once you know they have accepted it you can add sides to prevent a wren from looking over the side of the box from the top and seeing the hole. I have had Blues accept a wren guard but one year I had a pair that wouldn't and we had to go without. Good luck! Oh and I have a female Blue hanging around now and as it turns out it must be one from either last year or a different year cause when I put the mealworm feeder out it came right to it. I have never had that happed before, I have always had to train them once they started nesting. Sure hope a male turns up soon! Donna Here is a link that might be useful: wren guard

Hey davao45, I am in Central WI and we try to never leave the jelly on the deck at night as the racoons will come up and clean it out. They did ruin several suet feeders last year and then we got a trap and caught and relocated three of them. (a friend of ours with 80+ acres wanted to take them to his house, fine with me!). I saw a male Rose Breasted Grosbeak the day before yesterday along with the first male Oriole of the season. Catbirds are back too! Donna