Hi Deanna That's growing up the downspout on top of the ivy that's covering it (you can see the ivy on the brick at the top of the picture) I recall that the only criticism that I heard about Perle was that it was slow to establish. That may be true to a degree but I have others that are a lot slower and have given me far fewer flowers. I just love the blooms on this. I waited too long to cut it back after this flush in June/early July (trying to force another round of blooms) I do have some regrowth on one stem and it has produce 6 new buds which just started opening this week. Your new growth is a good sign, I think. I think you made a good choice and I hope you enjoy it!

The hummingbirds seem to have left for the season now - I haven't seen any since just before the big rains (northeaster and Hurricane Kyle). I'll keep the feeder up for a few weeks in case a migrant hummer comes through hungry. With all the fall vegetation it's hard to see all the birds. Except of course for the turkeys which stand out in any vista. Usually the turkeys stroll into the yard, but few days ago they were all riled up, probably by neighborhood dogs, and I heard a lot of yoyking in the woods. I went out to fill the feeders and spread seed on the ground, but I couldn't see any turkeys. Until I happened to look up, and there was a big turkey perched in a pitch pine above me. It flew off into the woods and soon after the whole flock walked in for dinner. I guess they wanted to make sure food was ready before they took a chance on the ground. And on the other end of the size scale, the House Sparrows are bopping around and having pool parties. Aside from these, I have cardinals, White-breasted Nuthatches, a few Blue Jays and doves and I saw a Red-bellied Woodpecker last week. I think a hawk flew by this morning. Claire

Okay...getting back to the original poster. Millymoo, I didn't sit down and think really hard about the sound you described (so forgive me if I overlook something simple), but what I do when I do not know a bird call is I use the Cornell Lab of Ornithology All About Birds website. I can typically narrow down the approximate type of bird that I am hearing and I just begin navigating the website. Perhaps begin with Northern Cardinal (they do make many different types of calls/songs but their vocal style and clarity remains the same). I can say that the N. Cardinal does vocalize a crisp, loud, clear "birdie, birdie, birdie" song that is quite common. Could be what you heard. Here is a link that might be useful: Begin Here This post was edited by TMFF on Wed, Apr 24, 13 at 20:13

I used to feed stale bread to the outside birds.My neighbors dad,who lived at the house part time after retiring to Pa,,,told me it was no good for the birds. So for the last 5 years I have bought wild bird seed,..A year or so ago my neighbor told me I needed to stop feeding them as they pooped on his 50 thousand dollar truck.I told him to F off...Months later I got a warning from town saying I can only feed them with a bird feeder,...I got one,,,,Then he told me not to feed them more than once a day.At 63,with a bad hip,I fed them if I happened to see it empty whenever that was.I got a ticket from town saying the food that falls to the ground as they eat,is illegal.,,,How can people be so mean?