Randy, It sounds like you get to enjoy a lot of birds too. I've been meaning to make up a list of the ones I get here, but I still haven't done it. I know there are pretty many. We live next to a woods and are not far from the mountain, and I guess that's what the hawks and owls like. I always hear screech owls and GHO's in the woods, but I've never gone looking for any of the nests. That's really neat that you know where the owls nest at your place. There aren't any cottonwoods here but thousands (more like millions) of others. I've never gotten any pictures of the owls. One evening one flew by not too many feet above my head (like maybe 20 at the most) and I didn't even hear it. I guess it was on its way to get its next meal. Maryann, You seem to me to know pretty much, so if you say you know little, then I guess that gives you a clue how much I know! lol I can identify pretty many birds, but I just haven't gotten a handle on hawks yet. One bird I would love to see is a red-headed woodpecker (never saw one in my life). We have other types here, one of which is the Pileated. It likes to go to the white pine tree in our yard that is slowly dying. I don't have it cut because of that. We also have a bird tree that's seen its better days, but birds nest and roost in the holes in it, so I don't have that one cut either. That would be nice for you to join a local bird club if you have the time. I'm not a member of any local bird club but go on songbirdsfamily.com It's one of those My Family sites where you email them your name and email and they give you a password to get on the site. You can post pictures right on the site and don't have to use photbbucket or anything like that. That's why I didn't know how to post pictures on this butterfly site at first because I never had to do that before, but now I learned that in addition to learn so many things about butterflies. I hope those hawks at your place get the house sparrows and starlings and leave the native birds alone. There are so many starlings around here and only a couple hawks once in awhile that I count on my traps and air rifle to get rid of them here. At first when I heard of other people doing that, I thought it was mean until I heard stories and saw pictures of what they do to our native birds. A lot of birding groups are encouraging people to destroy the house sparrows are starlings. Like you, I'm not fond of the grackles either for the reason you mentioned, but being that they're a native species, I just have to let them alone and grumble as I have to go out yet again to fill the feeders. Yes, I think you're right about that and it could have been either a hawk or a cat that got your cardinal. I've learned a lot about birds on other forums and enjoy them a lot, and one of my friends on there would talk about butterflies sometimes and I thought to myself, "Now that's something else that sounds interesting and I ought to look into it!" That's why I came here. Now I have more nice people to "talk" to. :) I'm sure I couldn't have learned so much about butterflies anywhere else either.

Sandy, I know you've been having trouble with the knees, but I also know you're not looking forward to the surgery. Think of all you'll be able to do with that "robotic" knee, LOL! You'll be even more of a Wonder Woman than you are now! I wish you would see some of the Nessus. They are diurnal. I see them off and on during the day, but mostly at dawn and dusk. You will fall in love! Had a Red Admiral female today, feeding on fruit and laying eggs. I have some kind of little black bug on my False Nettle this year, though, and I think they may be eating the eggs and tiny cats. I try to squish them, but they are incredibly fast. Once you nab one of them, they are on the lookout for you. I have so many different kinds of critters this year. I have these large dragonflies every year that hover over the garden. Since they are predators of butterflies, etc., I imagine they choose my garden as a home base! Today I saw a very long-legged wasp, or what appeared "wasp like" to me. The thorax is striped, longitudinally, with brown and yellow - it's pretty small. The wings, at rest, are tucked and folded over the abdomen. I have no clue what it is. I have another thing that looks like a modified, short, stumpy dragonfly, too. I need to take photos, but I am so unhappy with my camera, that I don't even want to bother. I have these gigantic black wasps that nectar as well. They are beautiful, but kinda scary. They are so black, they look blue in different light and different angles. The thing I have the least of this year, thank goodness, is the milkweed leaf beetles, the round, fat ones. I have found very few. Jeanie, my Cardinal Vine is not blooming yet either. First year I have grown it. Also have Cypress Vine that is not blooming either. I have what I know would be gorgeous blooms on a JP morning glory, but they won't open. They just bud up and stay that way. It's been really tough trying to water the garden adequately this month, with Jess having been in the hospital, and taking care of her and the kids several days a week. I hope I get some time this weekend to play catch up. I like to use the bananas. I buy a bag before I am going to need it, and let it ripen to black, and then put it out. This can be hastened by putting them in a plastic bag and tying off the end, and putting out in the sun for a day or so, if you need it quicker than letting them ripen in the shade or indoors. I find 5 lbs of bananas cheaper than buying fruit cups, but I know some folks prefer those over the rotting fruit, or meat as Cathy does. Someone last year said that they put theirs in the freezer and then take them out after frozen and let them thaw out. This will supposedly hasten the ripening process as well. You just need to get those ethylene gases do their job. Susan

---To decide what species if in question, I would (and do) use an image search. 100 different pics of hummers visiting the same one should guide you in the right direction.--- Perhaps you are not aware of the practice, but many photographs of hummingbirds feeding at flowers actually have a commercial feeder hidden behind them. Those sneaky photographers! ;^) That way they can have the flash units and camera set up where the hummingbird is pre-conditioned to feed. I always chuckle when I see flowers that naturally grow upright, hanging upside-down in the photographs. This wasn't meant to take your thread off-track, but to highlight that the popular photography flowers may not be hummer favorites.

Five (5) warblers on the rose arch today! Flying back and forth and taking turns on the suet. They seem to be used to me now and don't panic if I don't move too fast. This one landed on the wisteria pseudo-standard which is near the arch, and stared in at me. You looking at me?!?! sooey: I'll probably be shunned by the Birdfeeder Corp, but I rarely clean the tube feeder. When I first started using it, I'd top off the tube when the level of seed got below the top portals. But when I did this for a while, I noticed that the bottom layer of seed was getting nasty looking and moldy, particularly if it had rained recently. Naturally, I'd then take it apart and clean it thoroughly. After a while though, I started completely emptying out the tube feeder on the ground when it begins to get a bit low and I make sure the bottom floor of the tube is free of debris. Then I add brand new seed, filling up the tube feeder. This way the bottom layer of seed in the feeder is always fresh. This works very well since I spread seed on the ground anyway and it gets eaten up fast. I've never seen any evidence of disease in the birds, so I'm not worried at this time. I do clean the tube feeder when it begins to look like it needs it. Claire