Jane, if you only have one feeder out, you might try a good mixture with black oil sunflower seeds stirred into it. Don't get the cheapie kind with those little reddish-brown "BB's" in it. I have never seen ANYTHING actually eat those. I get mine at PetSmart, and I really love the Stokes mixture that has no hulls in it. I feed it, black oiler sunflowers and safflower seed. Safflower seed goes into a feeder that doesn't have squirrel protection, because they don't really like it, but cardinals and titmice do. HOWEVER, no matter what you are feeding, there will be times when birds are not around for various reasons. I have hardly any right now, mostly due to a pair of hawks hanging about our neighborhood. And even without the hawks, birds often disappear for a few weeks now and then. One more thing...don't forget that WATER is probably even more important than seed in luring birds to your yard. You'll notice that most of Maureen's pictures feature her great birdbath. Be sure to provide several "baths" around the yard. They can be anything from decorative features to trashcan lids on the ground with 2" of water in them. I often turn clay pots upside down and put a clay saucer on top for water. Keep the water CLEAN and shallow, maybe even adding a rock in the center for birds to stand on. Good luck! Marcia

Doctorant We many cattle egrets down here. And when they are in breeding plumage, they are just beautiful. Here is a little information on them. Connie Hagar was a noted ornithologist in Aransas County, Texas arriving here in 1935 and died here in 1973. She was very well respected by many ornithologist, including Roger Tory Peterson. In 1952 or 1953 she identified a cattle egret on Mustang Island which was considered the first here in Texas, but it stayed for only a few days. Then by 1956 cattle egret reappeared on Mustang Island. And today, we have them all over south Texas.

dont you just love american white pelicans!! they are so graceful in flight. ou wouldn't know it to look at them!

Finches get their color from their food rather like flamingos-different food of course. If they dont get the right amount or type of carotenoids it can change their color. I also have trouble telling the House from the Purple Finch. One of them has a female with a light eyebrow but I can never remember which one. Then there is the more stripped stomach. There is one chowing down at the suet feeder right this moment.