konrad: Thanks. I've noticed quite a few red-tails sitting in trees on the side of Route 1 in Chester County, PA (Route 1 is a 4-lane lightly used road here). The hawks stare into the grass median, and when they see something, they are quite focused on their prey. In fact, I had to slow down to miss one that was flying into the median. Claire: I remember reading a post here about bluebirds going to a window to ask for food. That was when I first started watching the birds. Well, I thought it was someone's imagination--until I realized it wasn't. There was a time when a mother mockingbird kept screaming at me until I chased a cat from near her nest. When I was feeding the birds regularly, the white-throats, upon seeing me, would jump up from the brush, land in the bushes, and sing to me. Probably the most amusing was when the male and female red-bellied woodpeckers--whom I always call red and rosie--landed in a tree on the side of the house and started shouting at me. I looked at the feeder with mixed nuts and saw it was empty. Once I filled it with their mixed nuts (they like the white ones and always search for them), they left me alone and ate their nuts. Here is something you may wish to try with mockingbirds. While in the yard, I may discover a mockingbird nest by observing the parents repeatedly going towards the same general area. The parents will first land on a nearby branch and look at me. This is where I must obey their rule. When the parent looks at me, I must turn away from the parent. I usually turn my back to them. Then, the parent heads for the nest and I hear the happy chirp of the chicks being fed. I don't know if this is a learned mockingbird trait or if it is instinct. However, the parent will fly away unless I look away while they go to the nest. I've been obeying their rule for years now.

Thanks! Nothing I've bought and tried so far has worked-at least one Pine Siskin was killed a two weeks and there are window strikes every day as panicked feeder birds flee passing accipiters. Once I heard a thump on the window, quickly followed by a glass-shaking crash. I looked up in time to see the underside of a Sharp-shinned Hawk peeling off the glass. I ran to the window, but he flew away.

I did read about the ribbons on another bird site and tried that. I put some up and the birds ignored them. Maybe that was because all I had at the time was white and that's what I put up. Maybe I should have gone with another color. The advice about the wind chimes got me to thinking. I have a wind chime inside the patio door. The glass in it is blue and when the sun hits it, it sparkles. Do you think that would attract the birds? Maybe I should move it. I never thought of that when I put it up. Guess I'll have to check and see if birds are attracted to certain colors. Thanks for the advice.

Our Robins usually show up around the end of January, early February. What they find to eat with all that snow on the ground makes me scratch my head. Saw one today hopping along the edge of the sidewalk probably looking for any worms dislodged by the heavy, wet, melting snow. Hope he had some luck. I once saw a sting of birds like that, thought they were never ending, but it didn't last for hours, more like 15 minutes. Your sighting must have been impressive!