I'm a vegi garden newbie. I built 3 rasied beds, 24'x6'x2' deep, one for blueberries(acid),lingonberries(acid), strawberries, rhubarb, garlic, other perennial small fruit/vegi. The other two beds are for the vegi garden, plus I plan on making a couple of potato planters, and a couple of container tomatoes and peppers for potential overwintering. This will be my 3rd growing season in my first home. the first two I worked on the perennial fruit garden/orchard. These vegis are 100x worse than the fruits, too many options, how can one pick, especially when they all say they are the best? I know I want: Tomatoes (sauce, paste, salsa, fresh, cherry, weird colors[that taste good], I would like both hybrid and heirloom for comparison) Peppers (bells, sweets, hot [no hobanero or hotter]) Sweet Potatoes Okra Potatoes Carrots (some super sweet for raw) Beets Summer Squash/Zuccinni Winter Squash (not too wet, prefer drier) Green Beans Sweet Corn Popcorn Turnips Edimame* (especially fond of) Melons (sweet, any) Basil (pesto) Any other vegi you think I should grow. I would be happy with direction, but truely grateful if someone would adopt me.

In regard to the males having grey bars across their tails. It's the females that have the barring on the underside of their tails & wings, males have solid black or dark grey under their tails & wings BUT in some mutations you can only sex them by DNA or surgical as males & females look the same. The normal grey is the easiest to sex. Do you know thier mutations & can you post a pic? As everyone esle has said above, they are great, they are also hissy & have night frights. I found with mine he only gets night frights if their is something prowling around the window at night. I've limited them down a great deal by having him in a room with a dimmer. I leave the dimmer on at night so he can settle properly & turn the light off when I go to bed. I cover only 1/2 his cage so he has a little moon light to see also. My little guy is a male normal grey & a very stroppy one. He has grumpy old man syndrome but left alone for long enough he soon snaps out of it & wants attention. They are very jealous & don't like change but they do learn to accept it all...eventually! Like parrots, a good healthy diet of sprouts, seeds, veggies, limit the fruit as they aren't natural fruit or sweet eaters & do stack on the weight. They have a tendency to have a calcium deficiency so a veg diet is a must for them. Unlike some parrots you can have them on a main pellet diet but I always prefer to have the veg, sprout & seed diet. Some (not all) males talk, females can whistle if you take the time to teach them but never talk. Generally you can tell male from female (MOST but not all of the time) by their behaviours. Males are very chatty & curious. Females usually like to keep to themselves & generally sqwark rather than chat, however, when you have a pair, regardless of their sex, if you do have 2 of the same sex you will often get one of those who will take on the role of the oposite sex. This is pretty normal for tiels & nothing to worry about. Do you know if they've ever laid eggs? If you don't want them breeding it might be best to find out what sex they are. Given the correct environment & being male & female, they may breed & if you don't want this you'll have to seperate them. Compaired to other parrots, I've found cockatiels to be generally the stroppiest & most short tempered when it comes to lack of sleep & molting. They require plenty of baths, they give off a lot of dust & a lot of people tend to have allergies to them. A good 12 hour sleep through spring & summer tones down their attitudes quite a bit. They all loath & love different things so if you discover what they really love that also helps their hot little tempers. After saying all that I LOVE my little guy :))))& they can be the most kind & sweetest little things when they really set their hearts to it.

A forensic scientist could estimate how long the bird has been laying on the ground by examining the stage of the magots. In my opinion, the carcas has been there for at least 24 hrs. Since you did not see any injuries, this suggests the worst: The bird died of a quick acting disease, probably a virus. Our DNR has asked people to collect and turn in birds that have died from no apparent reason. They want them for lab tests. They are tracking a few diseases. There are some other causes: 1. Old age. 2. Not likely for a purple martin, but the bird may have struck a pole or other object and broke its neck while in flight. 3. Struck a vehicle on the street and made to your back yard before collasping. 4. Struck an aircraft and fell in your yard. 5. Was shot by a pellet gun. 6. Poisoned. 7. Got too drunk on fermented mulberries.

Lily, every one that enjoys any species of birds is lucky, too! I am very proud of my little PM colony though. I don't know where they're nesting, but I have a pair of catbirds that visit my nectar feeder every day. Yes; they have a sweet tooth hidden in that sharp little beak! I use an older style Opus nectar/"oriole" feeder. It has rubber plugs that function as bee guards. I took two of them off and was surprised at all the other birds that love sugar water when they can get too it. I've seen chickadees, house finches, purple finches, Hairy and Downey woodpeckers, and hummingbirds all using it, along with the expected orioles. Of course, I don't have a photo of the catbird on it, but this is the nectar feeder all the yard birds enjoy.