oh, I'd love to have some anna's or black-chinned or buff-bellied or calliope here, too, patrick, but I sure love the rubies! sarah, I was holding the camera, and was seated about 8 feet from the feeder. I was indoors, looking through the window. the optics and zoom on the canon s1-is are great, but already I want more pixels. this one is 3.2 megapixels. I sure am having fun with it, though. I hope my visitor is here again tomorrow!

Hello renee1958 I raise my own meal worms. In April of 07 I bought 500 mealworms. Then put a 100 of them in the ref - took them out every so often to clean and feed & changed the bedding. Today I have 3 plastic containers 15"x9"x5" full of ¾ - 1 inch meal worms. It is a "dusty" job changing the bedding. I try to do this outside when the weather is nice. I sift out the bedding for the beetles about every 3 weeks and then pour the bedding in a plastic container (15"x9"x5") the eggs from the beetles are in the bedding. If you have any extra time you could start your own.. It is not hard to do and it is interesting. The warmer weather will be here soon so the mealworm cycles will be faster. Now as far as my bird feeder!! It was a Thistle Selective Feeder. The man at the bird store said he had one left but the feeder part was broken. My bluebirds never eat out of a tube feeder so I did not really need that part -- I got it for less than half price. When I got home I just took out the tube and cut the cage in half and turned it upside down so the bottom is now the top cover, put a small bowl in it for the worms. The protected bluebird feeder with the plastic sides that you see in the picture has mealworms in it also. The blues never go in it. The only bird to use it are the Carolina Wrens, they have learned how to climb into the opening and no other birds bother them... I am not sure where in Horry County you are, but on rt #544 where the "LOWES FOOD STORE" is, in that small plaza is a place called "Backyard Habitat".I know she has mealworms(last time I was there, 2 weeks ago they cost $9.00 for 500)I don't know if she sells in bulk. You could call to see if she does.. Have A Nice Day Linesman Here is a link that might be useful: Backyard Habitat

Mboston, I live near Crystal Lake Elementary School and Crystal Lake Middle School. I can see both schools from my back yard. In fact I am the school crossing guard for the elementary school where the kids walk out and now the parent pick up driveway was moved to.If you would like to meet we could do lunch like I did with Mustangs. Just give me an email from my page with the day and time you would like to do it.Also where would you like to have lunch at.

I like them too. We had some nest on the back of the farm several years ago, they completely demolished a sweet corn patch. We gave up the corn for the fun of watching the little birds hatch and grow. it's my understanding that they are legal to hunt in some states, I guess there are big populations in some spots. I have a friend who calls them "ribeye of the sky". He was amazed that we had such fun watching them. There are quite a few of them in southern Michigan by Elery's, there's even a winery called "Sandhill Crane Vineyards". We went to Lowe's one day for paint and there were a couple standing right under a tree in the parking lot, just watching people come and go, so I'm thinking they're either curious or not so smart. (grin) Cathy, I'm glad I'm not the only one who moves turtles. The girls used to call it "turtle patrol". We'd be driving along and I'd pull over and yell "turtle patrol". The girls would bail out and (while watching for traffic) move the turtle. I was told by a DNR officer to always put them on the side of the road in the direction they were heading or they'd just turn around and go right back. I don't know if that's true or not, but we always did/do. Yeah, Elery thinks I'm nuts, sometimes. Maybe most times. Annie