I have found 9-pound bags of a mix of mostly millet with some sunflower seed and, I think, safflower seed, at a dollar-type store here called Big Lots. $7 per bag. Birds gobble it up in winter, but in the winter they'll eat anything; in the spring they are picky, kicking out the milo for the pigeons and doves, so I stop feeding them and concentrate on hummingbirds and, this year, suet for Ladderback and Downy woodpeckers. Also I have nyger thistle feeders (both metal mesh feeder and sock feeder) out for our sweet, tiny lesser goldfinches. To complete my first post in this forum, I spotted and got pictures of a male Northern Cardinal this morning, a rare sighting for our area (Albuquerque). A similar male bird (the same one??) was reported a few miles further north back in February. I also photographed a rare Vermillion Flycatcher in April. Maybe more birds are moving into my state -- and I'll have figure out how to feed them if they visit my apartment complex :)

I almost posted an observation along these lines several weeks ago. In a one-week span I noticed three separate cowbird chicks all being attended to by blue-grey gnatcatchers. There was always a single cb chick to each set of birds, and never any sign of additional BGGC chicks vying for the food. In that same time span I also noticed a CBchick being fed by a pair of indigo buntings. It's not hard to find them as they are very raucous and conspicuous. I am curious how the numbers and densities of birds most typically affected by CB predations are doing here because we have hordes of cowbirds, yet I always hear/see vireos and thrushes and others that are prime targets for parasitism. I check my nest boxes regularly and destroy any CB eggs in the hopes that at least my small wooded acreage can better sustain songbirds in a time of decline, but we live in farmland with any remaining wooded areas being highly fragmented. Flocks of winter 'blackbirds' are usually groupings of redwings, starlings, grackles and cowbirds fattened up on a steady and readily available farmland diet. I only wonder what our songbird demographics will do in the next few decades.

We have been noticing this year our feeders are not emptying as fast as previous years. I did see a lot of birds when it was snowing. A group of about 10-15 juncos, a half dozen mourning doves, the usual cardinals, chickadees, tufted titmice and a few finches along with an occasional woodpecker. The last couple of days it has been quiet out there. I asked my husband to check to see if the feeders were empty in the back. I could see there is still sunflower seed in one feeder and one was empty. He said the back feeders weren't empty but he filled them all, so we will see. I just ordered a heated pet bowl to use as a bird bath for them and I'm excited to see if they take to it. I have seen black crows in the yard this year for the first time in 30 years. I have no idea why. We do see an occasional hawk but none of late. There have been a group of 4-6 crows roosting in a neighbor's silver maple trees on some days. They would fly off and circle and land again in the trees repeatedly. Then one day I looked out the window and three of them had landed in our yard on the ground for a bit. That's a first. I keep hearing them in the neighborhood every once in awhile. I wonder what has suddenly attracted them to our neighborhood. I also wonder if they have any effect on small bird populations?

I don't have a pic at the moment, but a squirrel has never made it onto my platform feeder since we put it up many years ago. It is made of threaded iron pipe hammered into the ground with a screw on flange attached to the feeder. Below the feeder is a baffle made out of round metal duct probably 6" diameter and 2' long. There are some sheet metal strips crisscrossed to close off the top of the baffle tube and to give it some way to hang off the pole with another pipe fitting. The bottom of the feeder is probably a little under 5' off the ground. The pole has a clear area of maybe 4-5' all the way around. It is also a good 10' away from anything real high that they could use to jump down onto it from above. The setup is ugly as sin, but it works. I plan on trying to use a pole in an umbrella stand next so that I can move it around easily since I don't use it in the summer. I have heard that a baffle made out of 4" pvc with a cap is sufficient too. I wonder though if the plastic would not get roughed up enough over time to let them get a grip. Here are instructions for that type of baffle and it looks a lot better than mine. I'll have to try one with a nice cap and black finish someday Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.todayshomeowner.com/how-to-make-a-squirrel-and-raccoon-bird-feeder-baffle/