Following up, a few months later... Things seem to be back to normal in the garden (thanks again for all of the advice and support). Nothing dead, and even a few new creatures -- a toad (must've come over from a man-made garden pond nearby) and a bunny (an unpleasant surprise -- living in an urban area, this is our first rabbit ever, in four years!). Birds are plentiful, and we're seeing a few goldfinches come by as the coneflowers dry up. I spent the summer enjoying the garden mostly from the inside... next spring will bring a clean slate and I can stop feeling funny about being out there (and about being here). Interesting, though: Like Hyta, I had not one Japanese beetle. Not a one. And I didn't spray anything besides all-season oil for aphids. Saw this in the newspaper today about more dangers from imidicloprid, this time about lingering dangers to honeybees: "Unfortunately, we are learning that Merit has some ugly side effects, namely causing what has been called colony collapse disorder, where thousands of honeybee colonies are disappearing for no obvious reason. Now we know that any plant that is treated with Merit and has blossoms that attract bees, those bees will receive a non-lethal shot of Merit. But it will cause them to lose their ability to find their way back to the hive. It also weakens the bee's immune system so the bee usually dies of some fungus or virus. ... "We yardeners can't deal with the bee problem in agriculture, but we definitely can take a look at how we are using Merit in our own yard. Some of the most effective and popular systemic insecticides for rose bushes have Merit as the main ingredient. Honeybees will always work over rose blossoms and so are exposed to a little bit of Merit -- enough to affect them badly." Provided the link for those of you who want to read more. (P.S. Maryl, I made sure to spray my clothes each time; thanks for the tip. And Joanne, now you must forgive me. I never have any e-mails about responses to a post. Still, please accept *my* apology for not responding sooner to say it's no big deal at all. :) )

Scott, I just love a night where the world gives you such wonderful gifts to enjoy! We don't see eagles flying over the house all that often either, although in 2004 we had a nesting pair nearby and they would fly over periodicallly. Usually we only saw one of them at a time, but once they both came over together. It was cool. This year, more people than usual have seen eagles in our county, so maybe it is "a good year" for eagles. We had a turkey gobbling the other day, but other than that I haven't seen them this year. A couple of years ago we had a shy female who hung out on the edge of the woods near our pond. Finally a male showed up ready to woo her. It was a riot watching how hard he worked to get her attention. I love this time of year. It seems like there is something new and wonderful every single day. Dawn

Kendra, that was my thought too, I mean I know they are around, they just don't come out of the woods (unless they are disturbed). These birds sound like they are right up in the trees next to my boxes. I look and look with my binocs but never see anything that even comes close to looking like a HOWR. (I do put up Wren guards). I just think it's odd that if they are out in the open like that, that they are not filling my boxes. Whatbird.com has the recorded call, also does not have a "similar" listed. Going on 8 years and only the one year did I ever have HOWR but I hear this call every year. HHUUUMMM scratching head....

Hi, again. Original poster, here. Thanks for that link -- it's a very extensive list! Unfortunately, my mystery bird wasn't on there. I clicked on every single bird on the list, even ones I'm familiar with. I first heard him in my neighbor's woods about 10 acres away, but this evening I heard him in my own back yard. His call is a little shorter now, but it's still the same "ta-daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" A very clear, single-pitched whistle, no trills or warbles. Anyone else have a guess? My husband's out there now with the binoculars trying to locate him so we can get a better look. I am worried that he's someone's parrot or other type of exotic bird.