Don't imagine there will be too many copying this "big bird" Cotton gins & pickers aren't that plentiful! Love the fancy paint job. Looks like he would keep big critters away from your yard & pond. Think he needs a "son" or maybe a lady friend. You probably saw where the police shot the concrete gator the other day!! Bullets would probably bounce off Sandy!! Nice job! Jan

Great pics patsi! I too have had minimal hummer activity. In the past, regardless of the racket the starlings made at the suet feeder, or the large number of goldfinches at my feeder and on the plants, I'm only seeing a hummer, once a week IF I'M LUCKY! I've only seen one male and one female. The last few years, I'd see at least one once a day. This year it's definitely killing me, not seeing them daily. I've had a robin nest in the forsynthia, which is only a few feet away from my feeder, and that never bothered my hummers. I haven't even seen a monarch butterfly yet! Overall, butterfly activity is alot less as well. Few cabbage whites, sparse Eastern Swallowtails, although I have seen a few Black Swallowtails that were kind enough to leave me a load of caterpillars, most of which have been eliminated, probably by wasps. I have already released 2 butterflies & have 5 more chrysalids & 2 more cats still feeding. At least the mosquito population is up (yes, sarcasm), but it's keeping the bats happy, which too, appear to have had their numbers dwindle too :(

i asked a nursery guy the same question yesterday, why do BOP have brown around edges? he said some of it is wind blown,some of it is people brushing against it, some of it is brown spots due to not being able to dry out much between waterings.i think it's ok to cut some of the bad leaves off and it should send up new shoots.i think the big leaves just get battered. try cutting a couple off and see how it responds.he said that would be ok.

Day's right. Cormorants don't have those long legs. It's probably his posture that's throwing you off. You usually see them standing more upright with the neck stretched out. BTW, McSix, cormorants do roost in trees. One of our favourite birding spots has an area where LOTS of them roost. We call the path below 'Ammonia Junction'. >:~] ICA, Sophie ^i^