Hi Sandy! Glad to see you. Sorry for your kitty. oops! Magpie is a rescue and it took her a good year to get somewhat comfortable with me. Another three years to get fully comfortable. Loads of coaxing! But now she trusts me so much, I was able to give her a bath without her trying to get out of the sink yesterday. She seems to know I will do nothing that hurts her, only helps. I relished the first time I saw that big white fluff. I didn't even know that much of her was white until she did that. What's your kitty's name?

That is so strange, Linda! Especially no earthworms!! We do have our lawn treated, with all dry applications and we have earthworms in the middle of it! I am presently digging up more sod, for more planting areas and run into worms all the time, in fact will remove them rather than hack them to pieces if I see one in time! As far as those peeper frogs/rain frogs, buyorsell888, I've purposely created a small pond last year, and now this year another smaller to entice them to come to my yard--I LOVE the sound of frogs and crickets!! Of course, if I had a million of them right under my window at night, I might change my mind but if they were at a distance, say a 1/2 acre away--even better--just like my parents home in the N.C. mountains!!! I loved to lay awake and listen to them, not long, though, they would chirp/sing me to sleep rather quickly!! Linda, have you EVER had earth worms before?

Nothing unusual; this is the time of the year our summer song-bird migrate. Several small song birds migrate at night, therefore, you may not notice. Ornithologists think they may do this to avoid enemy predators. Starlings and blackbirds are forming large flocks and will move south. In spring and early summer, these same birds vie for nesting and feeding territory and will space apart. After the nestlings have fledged, that behavior subsides and by fall, these same birds flock together with their new offspring. Hopefully, the new birds have developed sufficiently to withstand the rigors of the flight south. I have not seen any juncos yet, but when I do, I will know that winter is coming. The juncos over-winter here and in early spring, they will leave for their northern nesting sites. When the juncos arrive, it signals the end of summer-like weather. At my house, the average temperature has lowered and last week, I turned on my furnace. The autumn forecasters here are predicting that our fall colors will peak a week earlier than last year. This forecast is based on several factors, all weather related throughout the spring and summer. Our colors normally peak around Oct.1 to Oct 10. This year, it may peak by the end of the 3rd week of September.

The bird population in my neighborhood has crashed. At the start of this winter season, I had birds at my feeder. There were fewer than last year, but there some birds. Here in the neighborhood, that can be a wide variation in the number seen on a given day. For the past 2 weeks, I have seen hardly any birds anywhere in the neighborhood. I'm seeing about 3 birds a day. Of course, I am not looking at the feeder all the time, but for the times I do look, I see only 2 to 3 birds per day when in past years, there were times when crowds of birds were at the feeder. We had a pair of resident cardinals. Those always came as darkness fell to tank up for the night. They fed later than other birds. I have not seen a cardinal for the past 3 weeks. The blue Jay that frequented the feeder 3 months ago has disappeared. I have not seen any juncos for 3 weeks. Those are ground feeders and they arrive when other birds toss seed out of the feeder. They might be avoiding because the ground is bare of seed for them. They will use the feeder, but much prefer the ground. Not long ago, we had plenty of house finches; Those are gone. We did have a flock of mourning dove that visited each day. The flock was about 10 in number. I saw one yesterday and none today. There is a roaming flock of wild turkeys that pass through the backyard once per day. Those came today. I filled the bird feeder a week ago an not much has been taken. Its as though the birds have been poisoned or diseased. The population has crashed at my place. Some reduction can be attributed to loss of habitat from building new subdivisions. My town have very little open land left compared to 10 yrs ago.