I feed the birds all year sort of. They start with cleaning off the sunflowers that they plant the previous fall and continue to clean off the grasses, berries, and corn that I sometimes grow just for them. Of course I have water out all the time for them and a heated dish in the winter. I feed the big birds cat food with bread or cereal in it. They get any left overs when I cook a turkey or ham. I make my own concoction of peanut butter, prunes, hulled sunflower seeds, rolled oats, millet, black oil sunflower and a few other things they like to pick at. I buy millet, black oil sunflower and striped sunflower by the sack and keep it in large bins in the hall along with peanuts,hulled sunflower seeds, oats and rabbit pellets. Once in a while I will give them a treat of meal worms from the petstore or cut up fruit. And sometimes I will get a seed bell or spray millet just to watch them. I also ground up dry catfood last year and put it in the feeder. The little birds get much needed fat and protein to keep warm that way. I have the usual black and white feather dusters, the blue jays, lots of chickadees (black capped and boreal), nuthatches (red and white breasted), woodpeckers, northern flickers, juncos, finches, sparrows, the odd grosbeaks, waxwings, and redpolls and I even had a kestral last spring. Not many crows unless it is a really warm winter. My computer is in the corner of the front bedroom where there are the old corner windows. I feed the birds from about 5 feeders and baskets hanging from the big white spruce about 2 feet from the corner of the house here. I feed the rabbits under the tree and the dish feeders on the fence from big heavy ceramic dishes. It is such a routine for me to feed the birds after I feed the dogs on winter mornings. My neighbours are used to the crazy lady in her fleece pjs out feeding the birds every morning and the dogs go out and wait by the fence for the maggies to drop food for them. Quite the scene to watch! The maggies are very comical and they literally talk to me. I can't stand to see anything go hungry or be cold and the little birds seem to like to feast under the protective branches of this 50 foot spruce. My neighbour across the street says she likes to sit with her coffee in the morning and watch the bunnies and birds eating. And that reminds me: Must find a bale of hay for the bunnies. Last year I fed a cat all winter but coudln't catch her. She left me mice most mornings under the kennel....... I hope we have a mild winter or at least get some snow. It is bitterly cold without a little insulation. Ginny

Put up a wren guard after the first egg is laid in your chickadee/bluebird/whatever nest. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just enough to obscure the view of the nest box entrance from the wrens. I make mine out of cardboard and duct tape. Take it down when the chicks are 7-10 days old. In 5 years of having chicakdees and/or bluebirds nest in my yard, with plenty of wrens around, never a problem.

I hope I don't see any at my bird feeder. Mike filled my bird feeder really full for me last evening, so my birds are good for the bad weather. I don't think I have ever seen a bird like that. Thanks for posting about it. Sue

I am coming to the party late and skimming replies so this might be repeat. I caught Biondanonima's recommendation to skip the weed barrier/landscape fabric and "second" that this is good advice. As she says, weed roots grow through it, locking it to the ground but doing nothing to stop weeds. While the "surprise" plants might be welcome when they come, they might not be the basis of a good design unless they are in sufficient quantity. It would be hard to predict how you might use unknown things. Maybe you can get these plants identified and quantified and then someone might be able to calculate how they might be used. Keep in mind that too many different things, randomly organized, can make the yard end up looking like a junk repository. If we were to "dissect" what architectural element (floor, ceiling, wall, furniture, etc.) would be the most important in creating a nice finished product out of this slope, it would be a FLOOR. With that element alone you could have a pleasant, serene looking space. (Some walls and ceiling -- tree canopy, retaining wall and fence -- are already in place.) While a floor ALONE might not create the highest glory, it is the beginning. I suggest you begin with a groundcover that is low (so as not to feel oppressive to the adjacent spaces) and does well for your area. If it was evergreen that would be a "plus" but whether you can have it that way depends on where you are. In addition to a groundcover, other plants will help add more interest, but it's hard to make much in the way of specific recommendations because we cannot see a cohesive total scene or a "to scale" plan of the area. I suggest you draw a simple plan showing the existing major elements. To show a complete scene, place the camera at a central position opposing the scene, and then take a series of slightly overlapping photos that pan the scene from one end to the other. In addition to a groundcover, it's likely that most other plants will be placed at the back of the scene, not the foreground. There is no point to screening the back of the scene, which presumably you will make look good, with taller plants placed at the front. Other plants, if they are single, must be large enough if they are to captivate an audience. If they are not large enough on their own, they must be in groups that are large enough. Having small, unrelated plants does not make a nice scene. Unless you are creating a "wall" (hedge) as a backdrop, avoid placing plants in lines. It usually doesn't look good. Instead, place them in masses/blocks.