What a gorgeous blue bird!!! All we seem to attract are Sparrows, Robins, Mockingbirds (our state bird) and male and female Purple Finches. TONS of finches. Oh, and Mourning Doves.

The painted bunting is so beautiful.
Surprisingly we haven't had any cardinals at our feeders this year. It's the first year I ever remember not having any. We do have blue birds, robins, hummingbirds, red wing black birds, purple finches, yellow finches, mourning doves, mockingbirds, wrens, dam** sparrows and dam** pigeons.

We have a male cardinal, during water aerobics, who flies to the top of the health club and sits there calling his lady! He's been doing that for over a week now.

We had two pair of Bunting this spring...I guess they were passing through and decided the hand outs were pretty good. They stayed around for a couple of days :^)
We have a ton of cardinals, mockingbirds, sparrows, titmouse(mice??), red and yellow finch, grackles, crows, hummers, white wing doves, and one miserable hawk that I run outside with my cap gun and scare away!! If he would eat squirrels, I would hug his neck, but he likes to eat the birds and so he and I have an ongoing battle!!

LOLOL - too funny about the hawk jaybird. I wish I lived near you because I'd love to get just one good picture of one.

LOL! I'd like to get a picture of jaybird with her cap gun scaring away the hawk!

We love mockingbirds! We've had more of those this year, too. And king birds, which are also kinda pretty. We've tried for three years to attract finches, and we FINALLY have some this year -- orioles, too! In years past, we always heard blue jays but they wouldn't come to the feeders. They are this year, though! I'm not sure why we are being blessed with so many birds this year!

LOL! I'd like to get a picture of jaybird with her cap gun scaring away the hawk!

We love mockingbirds! We've had more of those this year, too. And king birds, which are also kinda pretty. We've tried for three years to attract finches, and we FINALLY have some this year -- orioles, too! In years past, we always heard blue jays but they wouldn't come to the feeders. They are this year, though! I'm not sure why we are being blessed with so many birds this year!

Nice birds, Rita! Try putting out some cut oranges for the orioles. I was able to attract them that way. They also liked watermelon! I had a pair of painted buntings for a few weeks. They are gorgeous! I like the mockingbirds too but right now they are singing all night long.
~Betsy

Orioles love grape jelly!

I haven't seen any unusual birds this year, but we do have a good amount of both Orchard and Baltimore Orioles and lots of hummers already. I've seen some Flycatchers and a pair of Mourning Doves. Both of my bluebird boxes appear to have Bluebirds in them.

Your pictures are great BTW. I've never saw a Blue Grosbeak! Pretty!

Hey, that reminds me that we haven't seen the blue grosbeaks in a long time. Did finally get some Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, though. And indigo buntings, love them. Would LOVE to get a painted bunting, that's my dream!

I have a cat who loves watermelon, it's Murphy. I bet he'd love to find a bird with his same proclivity towards it!

I would love to see a painted bunting! And those are wonderful birds to capture pics of, OK!

We have indigo buntings and scarlet tanegers, that's about as exotic as we see, mostly it is the cardinals, jays, red-wings, chickadees.....but I love and enjoy them all! Including the sparrows!

We might spring for some cheap grape jelly, but we seldom buy oranges for US -- let alone the birds! They are so high!

Rita, go out to Wal Mart or Atwoods and get you an oriole feeder. It looks kind of like a hummingbird feeder, but bigger ports. While you are at Wal Mart, get a cheap jar of grape jelly. I think it is $1.12 for a quart. Mix it half jelly, half water and put it in the microwave until it dissolves. Cool it and put it in the feeder. The orioles will knock each other off trying to get to it. I just mix 1 cup jelly and 1 cup water at a time because if it rains on your feeder it will dilute it.

We have mockingbirds, titmice(?), sparrows of course, nuthatches, cardinals, woodpeckers (redbellied, downies, and the occasional pileated), doves, brown thrashers, towhees, robins of course, once in a while an indigo bunting, wrens, and that's all I can think of.

And the hummers! For the last couple of days we have had two young males vying for territory in the yard. At first, they just seemed to be playing. Would even eat at the same feeder at the same time. Now it seems to have turned serious, even though they take a "timeout" at the same time, to drink at different feeders. Then one decides it's time to go again, and they're at it. One will be the victor, and rule the area, and the other will have to find another place to be.

I don't know how long hummingbirds live, but for several years (up until this one) we had a hummer fly up to the kitchen window where the feeder is always hung and demand to be fed. He also completely ruled the roost as to who was allowed to drink at HIS feeders.

Thanks, jackie! Will do! Funny thing is, we've always known we have orioles because we'd catch a fleeting glimpse occasionally. This year, they (and the finches) come every morning to a tree right outside our bedroom window and eat the seeds (?) or pods (?) or something off the blooms. We don't even know what kind of tree it is, and they've never done it until this year. Anyway, thanks for that tip!

We do love our hummers, too. :-) And I don't even know what our woodpeckers are. We have several kinds, but like the other birds - they just seem more plentiful this year!

I'm loving my birds and squirrels this year. I have a huge pic. window in my kitchen and I'll sit there w/my camera and snap away. I've got some awesome pics of blue birds, towhees, cardinals, brown threshers, nuthatches, titmouse and blue jays! Even my beloved suet-cage stealing, bird-feeder hoarder squirrels get their pics taken. I had a mama squirrel and her 3 babies playing around on my roof. I watched her lay there and get run over and bitten by her babies as they played. Cute! I am desperately trying to get a picture of my very large woodpecker but he's so fast and skittish. I did get a couple of pics today but I'm trying for one of his entire body. He loves my suet cages and visits about every 1/2 hr.

Come right on Brenda...we aren't that far away....heck, I'll be generous and even GIVE you the HAWK!!!!!

Well I might just take you up on it!!

DH and I were sitting in the swing tonight watching the birds and were lamenting over the fact that in the 3 1/2 years we've lived here, we haven't seen any Cardinals, yet we only moved 3 miles from our other home where we had tons of them. Well low and behold not 2 minutes after we came in, DH said "There's a Cardinal on the fence!" I said no there's not ..... he insisted there was so I walked over to the window and sure enough, there sat a beautiful male Cardinal. I was so excited I couldn't stand it! And we also have a Robin sitting on a nest in our tree in the backyard, but she built it so dang high, I can't see inside the nest.

I just love my birds!