It is so funny to watch the "baby" birds that are as big as their parents. They hop around behind their parents,flap their wings and shake their bodies and chirp loudly in an instinctual behavior that elicits a feeding response. I feel sure the parents are thinking the same thing that humans think when adult children return to the nest after fledging. "I'm tired! Go find your own way like I did when I was your age!" Tee hee!

Hi Panama has the most number of species . Partly because it's on the north south migratory flyways So you get to see birds from as far away as Argentina as well as Canada Has more species than all of Europe and N. America combined!!! Where else can you swim in the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans on the same day?? lol 5 kinds of tropical rainforest as easy or as wild as you'd like. Many, many things to see and do .Spanish is the official language but almost everyone speaks English due to the canal. Check out the internet for specifics . gary

welcome! As someone who is fairly new to birding as well (but absolutely loving it) my suggestion is to educate yourself. But do it in a fun way. If you're a smart phone user, download the Merlin app. It can help you id pretty much anything and you can hear calls and see multiple photos of your subject in question. I have found that once I know more about a particular species it pulls me in more to birding. Through this self education you can help target species you enjoy to frequent your yard. I'm personally in love with woodpeckers so my yard is littered with feeders to attract them. I now have different suet feeders so make Hairy, Red-bellied and Downy woodpeckers and fairly frequent visitors now. Best advice is to have fun!

Hi Denise, you don't need to be so concerned about the exact time to water, it's not such an exact science. You just want to see the top one inch or so very dry, not moist. If it's dry two inches down and soil underneath is obviously moist, it's fine, just water at that time. If you water when the top half inch is dry, I don't think the plant will mind a time or three. So no worries. The point is that you don't want to overwater. Crotons don't like to dry out completely, but watering every day would probably be too much. I can't explain that comment by Exotic Angel. They grow in small pots with a peaty mix, and maybe those do dry out quickly and need watering every day. Some people buy EA plants and set them on a windowsill rather than putting in a larger pot, EA's comment may have been aimed at those folks. On your beautiful pics of those bushy crotons, the only way you can maintain that look is to keep taking tip cuttings, or pinching the tips off once they get a little tall. Taking the growing tips off forces new growth and branching lower on the plant. Russ