I keep one of my hummer feeders inside of a forsynthia that a robin always nests in. The robins and hummers haven't had a problem with each other. I do have a suet feeder, probably 50' away from both, and the hummer actually goes over to check the ruckus that occurs at the suet feeder. I don't think the hummer would be a threat to the robin, unlike the larger suet loving birds. I know you love your woodpeckers; is there any chance you can move the suet feeder?

We are in the process of a back yard habitat. We have gotten a bunch of trees from the state forestry commission that are supposed to be the best to attract wildlife. They were freebies, but of course real small. They gave us nutall oaks, sawtooth oaks, red buds, pines, tulip poplars. These are growing fine except for the pines and tulip poplars, but that's another story. We are going to cover up the grass in that large back corner with newspapers and pine straw so we won't have to mow it, we hope. We have an area that we will have to terrace some because of a steep drop off. Some day we hope to make a little waterfall at the gently sloping area and also a pond there but that's a while away. When we get finished we will have a naturalized area with pine straw and trees and shrubs with a waterfall and pond. Then the area with the raised vegetable gardens surrounding by the pine straw. Another area will be for entertainment with our barbecue grill, swing, chairs & table on a concrete tiled patio. We also have beginning flower gardens all around the yard. We are trying to get back on all the bermuda grass and mowing that we can so we don't have to be mowing all week long to get the yard finished. I have a bunny that sneaks through my chain link fence in the evening. It is so cute, but he is eating my impatiens so far and who knows what else he will get hold of when my veggies come in. Katie

Thank you, after much thought that as well, I checked the nest 2days ago, I can make out 2 chicks hatched & were sound asleep, hardly any feathers yet, the magpie is still hanging out, hope they make it! I will keep you posted, thanks again!:-)

katob - there seems to be a plentiful crop of rabbits around this spring here. I haven't noticed any damage to woody stuff yet (but I haven't inspected the backyard yet up close....) The rabbits have definitely been nibbling on bulb foliage in the front garden, especially tulips - but I noticed just now looking out the home-office window that the clump of 'squirrel tulips' under the oak look completely intact so there are either fewer rabbits in the backyard - or they've been eating something else instead! ken - you're right re the roses - we're not cutting QE back until we see buds sprouting so we can just cut off the clearly dead stuff but keep the healthy stuff. Yes, we're in suburbia here :-) The neighbourhood dates back to the early 1960s so the lots are 1/4 acre in size. Quite a few people let the back of their property 'go wild', leaving trees and shrubs to get big - that's why the pictures from the backyard here don't look too suburban - there are large trees and shrubs on the properties behind us, which help our garden look bigger than it actually is.... Also, a lot of the fences are still original chainlink, some of them only 3' tall, so they are pretty transparent resulting in all the backyards sort of looking like one large property - 'borrowed views' and all that.... Tall wood fences and tall evergreen hedges are becoming more common as original houses are torn down and replaced by very big new ones. When we bought this property in 1999 there had never been a fence between this property and the neighbour to the north. We were viewed suspiciously at first as we were doing an extensive renovation and addition and people were afraid we were going to be the type that changes the character of the neighbourhood :-) The neighbours to the north begged us not to put up a fence, but our dog at the time was a rescued dog who was .... um.... unreliably friendly with people she didn't know. We needed to keep her securely on our property. But we aren't fond of big wooden fences so we went with 4' black chainlink, which satisfied the neighbours, kept Chelsea on our property, and kept the open look of the properties, so everyone was happy....