Hi Kids, Happy New Year to you all. I saw my first Hawk in the yard today. I think it was a Northern Goshawk. I got a few pictures of it which I will post as soon as I am able. It was beautiful. It sounds like we are all enjoying the birds. The worms I always kept on hand for the Blues were live mealworms. I know you can get the freeze dried, but I have always used the live ones. They are not gross at all. They are small, only about an inch, dry and easy to handle...no slime. I order them on line and they arrive in a bag, inside a box. I take them out, put them in a shallow plastic container that has a lid and, put them in the lower part of the refrig. They last for a long time. I would even feed them apples so they stayed plump and happy. I think I got 5,000 for about $15. The Blues LOVED them. I was lucky enough to have a Flicker visit during my PFW count this past week. I was so excited. We seem to have a mini flock of 3 that now visit the suet feeder just about every day. They are so beautiful. I'll try to post the pictures of the Hawk. I would like to know if you all agree wtih my ID of it as a Goshawk. sooey

Janis G, your bird garden sounds lovely. What kinds of plants do you grow in the garden and why do the birds like them? I already have several gardens and a couple bird baths in the front yard, with many flowers for butterflies and hummingbirds and other pollinators. Some make seeds the birds like to forage too (like Purple Coneflower and some of the annuals). I will be adding some native berry-producing shrubs to the yard. Also there are three feeders and a small bird bath in back and I would like to add more perennials and annuals the birds can use around the yard, especially near the feeding station (which is part-shade).

i make my own from scratch and all the hanging birds like woodpeckers and nuthatches and chickadees and tits love nuts and raisens and sunflowers seeds and pick them out of the suet or molded blocks. In the cold months i make homemade suet with lard or shortning and put peanuts or peanut butter in it. add raisen and mixed bird seed and cornmeal or rolled oats to thicken it, i mold it into either plastic bottoms of the little boxes raspberry or blackberrys come in from the store and put the trays into the suet cages and hang them. But in warm weather i use either molasses or sorgum and peanuts or peanut butter and whatever nuts or sunflower seeds or raisens or mixed seeds and cornmeal or rolled oats to make a thick sticky paste and press it into the woodpecker block cages or the suet cages.

Interesting responses--thanks, everyone! I have thought of feeding all year round and bringing in the feeders at night. One of my friends does it. But unless you have a single feeder, it seems like quite a nuisance--plus I don't trust myself to remember every night. Plus I can see myself endlessly shooing the cats away from the feeders in the house. SusanZone5, I have Lyme disease too. Hate to say it, but I suspect we always will. Like you, I get much pleasure from feeding the birds. Maybe it's just as well I haven't done any hand-taming in recent years. Interesting about the dirty seed. I'm feeding from a new bag and didn't notice any evidence of dirt. I have four feeders up: a metal mesh one that I used last year, a large-capacity metal one I bought this year, a thistle seed feeder for the finches, and a suet cage. The suet is getting attention, and so is last year's metal mesh feeder. No finches, so the thistle seed is untouched. But so, apparently, is the larger metal sunflower seed feeder. I was excited to find it on sale at Tractor Supply, but apparently the birds don't find it nearly as exciting as I. Sad about bird losses during the hurricanes! I don't think any of my songbirds migrate, but I'm not certain about that. I still haven't seen a single cardinal, but the doves and juncos are faithful. I scatter cracked corn and some seeds for them. Maybe we'll see more chickadees, etc., when the serious snow flies.