Aw, how cute! Looks like he's having a great time. Unfortunately, a pair of cardinals have nested in my rose bush. Ordinarily I would love to have them in the yard, but there are cats around and only one of the babies survived last year - one was killed by a cat, the other was blown out of the nest in a storm. I took great pleasure, though, in seeing the third fly away. I keep a Scarecrow water cannon aimed at the area around the bush trying to keep the cats away, which will protect them until they leave the nest, then it'll be a problem.

So glad you solved your mystery! On another note: for many seasons I've had a bird feeder station with tons of house finches/goldfinches/house sparrows/etc. just a few feet away from my veggie beds planted with peas, without any noticeable losses. It sounds as though the birds in your area are hungry for protein, as nesting season's underway. Now they've learned to eat a handy alternative when insect populations are low: your poor peas! It sounds counter-intuitive, but offering them a feeder filled with oily black sunflower seeds might keep losses to a minimum. In my experience, they'd much rather have enticing, easy-to-get fatty seeds than the so-so peas. Other people's mileage may vary, of course. Since pea-prospecting is a learned behavior, bird netting is currently your best bet until the next few generations "forget" this food source. Best wishes for your garden, L

Let's hope they keep that prison van locked up tighter the next time, for heaven's sake. Happy to hear they caught the fellow.

That is super cute- but now all the seven year olds are going to want to do the same thing. There's going to be a run on Santa Costumes!!