"I ahve to say you ladies are REALLY good, maybe we should skip to the first fall warblers???? " Ladies, we are in trouble. Check your Peterson guide on confusing fall warblers to bone up for the challenge! Actually the guide is pretty good by putting them in sub-sections by field marks and color. You can then proceed by process of elimination until you get down to the correct bird. Then check the Cornell's site for other photographs for further positive ID markers. Local variations and light in the photos make if tougher too but if you find most of key ID points it is probably that bird. According to my SMAS group the Blue Jay is considered partially leucistic, not albino, and is exhibiting other feather abnormalities related to genetics. In another communication, Arlene Ripley commented that she has seen many albino birds but none have exhibited the fur-like structures of this Jay's feathers. I did some of my own research on fur-like feathers and every site pointed to something called proto-feathers which were exhibited by some early dinosaurs before true feathers emerged. It's exciting to imagine this bird may be exhibiting an ancient genetic throwback to prehistoric times which upholds the common belief that birds evolved from dinosaurs as they first took flight. There has been a call to ask everyone on the local site if there is a scientic name for this feather anomaly and this call comes from a man that works for the Smithsonian Institute and really knows birds. So far, no reponse, so the local bird community here may be stumped. There was sentiment regarding hope the bird survives. Jean, has this bird been a regular at your feeder for any length of time in which one could make the assumption it has survived nature with this variance? Arlene suggested the photo be posted on websites dedicated to leucistic and albino birds and see if more information could be obtained from readers. PapaSmurf is a rare Blue Jay indeed. CT

Ann, I hope this helps. I am not terribly interested in this since I usually do not purchase from J&P. Sammy Harry & David Sells Off Jackson & Perkins May 1, 2007 12:00 PM , By Jim Tierney JobZone Search and post jobs for the Multichannel Merchant. Including jobs for brand & agency marketers, e-commerce, catalog marketers, ops & fulfillment, direct marketing and more. Click here to access JobZone Find any supplier you need - agencies, CRM, fulfillment, lists, e-commerce, paper, printers, telemarketing, and more. Featured Categories Fulfillment Warehousing Lists & Data Telemarketing Merch. Order Processing Shipping & Distribution Print, Production & Paper Lists and Data Processing :: view all categories Get free access to more than 50,000 list data cards - one of the most comprehensive databases in the industry. >> Search Now Webinars Ask The Experts Calculators Glossaries Promo Calendar ListFinder Research Store Primers NCOF MCM Blog JobZone E-Newsletters Print Magazine Awards ACC Web 2.0 -- Build Community and Boost Conversion Rates Understanding Customer Experience Shape Up or Ship Out: The Role of Shipping in the Online Retail Customer Experience Bounce Management: Improve Your Email Deliverability WMS Upgrades: Report Reveals Five Critical Factors Now that gardening cataloger Jackson & Perkins is owned by a company specializing in horticulture, it may be in a better position for growth. On April 10, Medford, OR-based Harry & David Holdings sold most of the assets of the $73.8 million Jackson & Perkins, including the catalogs, the Website, the customer lists, and the inventory, for roughly $21 million to an investment group headed by Donald and Glenda Hachenberger. A second investment group has agreed to buy about 3,200 acres of Jackson & Perkins' growing fields in Wasco, CA, the so-called Rose Capital of the Nation, along with certain buildings and equipment. At press time, Charles "Chas" Fox was expected to take over as president of Jackson & Perkins. He is president of two other gardening catalogs, Park Seed Co. and Wayside Gardens, and of Southern Sun BioSystems, which licenses technology, materials, and equipment for plant propagation. Fox founded Hodges, SC-based Southern Sun in 1997, then sold it to the Hachenbergers. The Hachenbergers also own a stake in Park Seed and Wayside Gardens. Jackson & Perkins fits in with the audiences of both Park Seed/Wayside and Southern Sun, as it sells to consumers as well as to gardening centers. Fox told the Ashland (OR) Daily Tidings that the purchase was an "ideal opportunity" for the Hachenbergers' investment group. "For us, Jackson & Perkins is a one-of-a-kind brand," Fox said. "There's not another like it out there. It was an opportunity that probably wouldn't come down the pike again. Since November, we've gone through a tremendous amount of due diligence and data to see the value of the company and its potential. It's the most recognizable brand in the horticulture industry." The bloom off the rose? Jackson & Perkins is indeed a renowned and respected brand. But for the former parent company, it seemed the bloom was off the rose. For the fiscal year ended June 24, 2006, sales at Jackson & Perkins were down 2% from the previous year. The company blamed the decline primarily on weaker demand for roses among the merchant's reseller customers and on a shift in its direct marketing strategy that included lower circulation of catalogs with higher page counts, which resulted in higher average order sizes but lower overall sales. In comparison, annual sales for Harry & David Holdings increased nearly 6% last year, to $598.2 million. Direct sales for the Harry & David food gifts brand rose nearly 6%, while Harry & David store sales grew more than 13%. "The decision to divest Jackson & Perkins was made only after careful consideration of its strategic fit with our core gift and gourmet food businesses," Harry & David CEO Bill Williams said in a statement. To the Daily Tidings, Williams said, "If you look at this company as an outsider, I would say it clarifies our strategic focus on gifts and foods without a gardening substrategy." Williams said that some Jackson & Perkins employees would move on with the new ownership, while others will take Harry & David positions, and some will leave the company. Harry & David will provide wholesale operational services for Jackson & Perkins through 2007 and direct marketing operational work and other services through June 2008. http://multichannelmerchant.com/crosschannel/crosschannel/harry_david_sells/

nhbabs: Do you think the hawks are hunting something, like voles, near your house? Or maybe considering a nesting site close by? I saw the first Baltimore Orioles of the season today! and it's before the hummingbirds show up - usually the orioles come a little after the hummers. The grackles had gobbled up most of the suet outside and the orioles were picking at the scraps. I raced out and put new suet in all of the cages and added some apricot preserves in a dish. This one came back but didn't seem too impressed with the new suet. He did seem to be looking down at the preserves in the dish in the middle of the feeder. When they start showing interest in the fruit I'll phase out the suet in those cages to discourage the grackles. I have another suet feeder up in another area. Claire

How nice this thread got bumped! I enjoyed re-reading it and thinking about how much the yard has changed in a year. My bird-friendly yard is evolving. Have made great progress removing invasives, particularly Bittersweet, Buckthorn, and Norway Maples (treework cost me $2000 last year and there's still one GINORMOUS Norway maple left). There was a lot of brush created by all this tree/shrub work. Some was burned this Spring, right smack in the middle of the Oriental bittersweet patch, but the rest is in piles. The brush piles attract a lot of birds, particularly Sparrows, Cardinals, Juncos, and Wrens. The birds also love the back half-acre, which is wild and full of Crabapples, Choke Cherries, White Pine, and still some invasives like Honeysuckle and Autumn olive. Also making great progress on growing bird-friendly natives. Purchased another 50 native tree/shrub seedlings from the NH Nursery. That makes 130 total between this year and last - all of which ultimately make berries/nuts for the birds and wildlife. Most of them are in holding beds and haven't flowered yet, too little, but I've given away some and started to plant out a few. I winter-sowed many native species of perennials, annuals, and vines. Exactly where all this stuff is going, is not completely clear at this point, but I'm creating lasagne beds like crazy! The birds are always flitting around the yard and it's only going to get more interesting and fruitful for them (hopefully). It's great!