I've had a fabulous turnout of migrating warblers, etc this fall! Or maybe because I'm too pooped to do anything but sit at the window and stare, I'm seeing more this year. I still have hummers, even a few males although it's mostly females and younguns. Around here they say to leave your feeders up until end of November, that it won't keep the ruby-throats from migrating and there are more and more sightings of west coast hummers who end up on the east coast in late fall and early winter. There was an Anna and a rufous hummer in Ohio in the last two years. One showed up in December and stayed until the middle of January. Nobody is quite sure why there is an increase of these hummers but there are more and more reports each year. It would be fun to see a hummer in December but I'm afraid I would worry myself sick! Most of my summer birds are still here. The wood thrush no longer sings (sniff, sniff) but I still hear his little "Pip, pip, pip". I've seen both the summer and scarlet tanagers in the last week - both had molted into their winter colors -why can't they show themselves in their pretty summer attire? I've added two new yard birds this fall - a warbling vireo and a yellow-bellied flycatcher which is one of my rarest yard birds. I've had a nice variety of warblers so far - american redstarts, bay breasted, black-throated green, black-and-white, blackburnian, black poll, blue-winged, canada, cape may, chestnut-sided, magnolia, ovenbird, prairie and tennesee and vireos - red-eyed, warbling, white-eyed, and yellow-throated and a swainsons thrush. I also had a juvenile rose-breasted grosbeak, not sure if it's a migrant or from the pair that I saw this summer. I do love see the fall migrants but I am really going to miss summer ... and the mosquitos and the heat and the drought ....

I really enjoy seeing the downeys come to the suet feeder. Lately I've been seeing more than one. It's so nice you get so many of them. Do you put up more than one feeder and do you make or buy your suet blocks? I like to mix peanut butter w/ my store bought suet and put the mix into the form that I save, put in the freezer for a while, then pop out and put in the suet cage. I can get more suet blocks this way. Saves $$!!

When you all talk about suet, do you mean the packaged gooey stuff that goes in the square green wired baskets, or the bell-shaped thingy with seeds all over it? Or something enrirely different?? Terrene, what is a log? Can you post a picture of what you all are talking about? Oh, and I did see the woodpecker yesterday evening, but not at my feeder. He (actually she) was flying from one tree to another. It was funny watching her. On the tree she stopped at, she landed on the trunk and hopped backwards (down the trunk) and then after a little pecking, hopped back upwards.

Thanks all, We love to share our birds. :) I've also posted a series of our Bluebird family in the GW Bluebird Forum. (link below) Happy birding everyone, Kenn Here is a link that might be useful: Our growing familiy Blue