The rosary-pea is all over at my central florida place. When I first saw it some years ago I could see that it was a legume and was toying with the idea of cooking and eating it but fortunately I asked on this forum first and was tipped off about its toxicity. I did some reading back then and learned that it is native to parts of southeast asia and was occasionally used as a famine-food, apparently if cooked properly and not eaten too much it can be digested (obviously I don't know whether this is valid or not). Raw it has been know to kill people, apparently. However the seeds are so hard that I think a person would nearly break their teeth trying to crack the seeds, the whole seed apparently will pass through undigested.

I suggest visiting Cornell Lab of Ornithology's "All about Birds" webpage. You can listen to the calls of hawks (since you got to hear this suspicious bird's call). That might be the key to IDing this bird. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/id The most educated answer I can give is that this is a dark morph red-tailed hawk. Its bill is just too broad to be a red-shouldered hawk (and I have not known red-shouldered hawks plumage to vary that considerably, as red-tailed hawks are known to do). Now the fact that you're in Florida is interesting since dark-morph red-tailed hawks are more known to occur in the Plains and western U.S.(see Harlan's hawks and western red-tailed hawks for images). So, unless this is a falconry bird that escaped, this is probably a rare bird to find in Florida. Would love to hear the opinion of a birding expert. This post was edited by TMFF on Mon, Jan 28, 13 at 22:31

@Nicholas C. - I'm looking for a variety. I've asked which cacti produce fruit and I get mixed responses. Some say a lot of them do, but not all of them taste good to the general public, and some say only a few cati fruit and that they all come from the same family. I've tried dragon fruit, prickly pear, and Peruvian apple before but that was long ago, and I recall liking them. I think any fruiting cactus would be nice though, hopefully what I don't eat will attract birds. I've tried one home depot and one Wal-Mart and they told me that they didn't have any fruiting cati. If possible, I'd love to know where you saw them specifically. I'll check out the other Wal-Marts and Home Depots in my area though, thanks.

No one can keep "weeds", unwanted plants, from growing mostly because Ma Nature does not like her soil left uncovered and exposed to the ravages of the sun, wind, and rain. "Weed barriers" can stop "weeds" from growing from the soil, but they will not stop newly seeded unwanted plants from germinating and growing and since those seeds come onto your property via birds, the wind, and wild animals you will have a difficult time stopping that process. Mulches, properly applied, can help with unwanted plant control but are not the total means of control some would tell you because mulches may provide a good bed for those plants to germinate and grow in. In a discussion about mulches with someone yesterday I told them that materials such as wood chips are quite dense and would block unwanted plant growth if laid down at 3 to 4 inches rather than the 6 to 8 inched something like straw would require. However this person will be getting many bales of straw, free, so what to use is not in question. An article in an issue of Fine Gardening magazine on the results of a 9 year study of mulches by two researchers at Michigan State University would be worthwhile looking up at your library. kimmq is kimmsr