shade is impossible to describe by words .... some shade will make your glasses dark .. other shade is like a grotto ... every conifer has an annual growth rate ... e.g. a juniper that will grow 6 inches per year ... which would be in full sun .... as you decrease the intensity of the sunlight thru shade... you will reduce vigor .. which means the growth rate ... you will also.. most likely end up with a sparser plant.. rather than full and robust ... nothing will really die in shade [leaving out the dark grotto] .. it just might not perform to your expectations .. sooooo .... find something you like.. that fits the spot.. and give it a try .... and if it works it works.. and if it doesnt.. move it ...you will know within a few years ... ken

I'm still trying to get an answer as to why "non-native" birds are "trash", while humans get a free pass. Would anyone like to answer? As far as feeders go, the most signifant reason people have feeders in their yards, birders or non-birders, is for their own entertainment. I could care less how many different types of birds people "get to see" in their yards! Animals do not exist on this earth for the purpose of human entertainment. They are here for their own reasons. As far as rehabbing indivisual birds goes, I have rehabbed several birds who flew into my window and were knocked unconcsious. I do it to help out an animal that needs medical care, which I would do for any aniaml or person I saw injured, not because I want to preserve the existance of some taxonomical abstraction. Sorry but your words sound very callous and cold-hearted. You may not be specifically saying you want Starlings torutured, but your attitude towards them is what has spurned the latest craze I see in the conservation movement, which is this focus on the blaming and killing of other animals in the name of saving "native species" rather than habitiat preservation and drastically reduced consumption of resources. I don't believe it's the place of humans, the most non-native and destructive of them all, to determine which animals live and which ones die, while we do everything to ensure the life of every human is as long and pain-free as possible. It's just plain hypocritical and unethical.

There are some birds that lay their eggs in another birds nest. The Cuckoo, Cowbird, Whyda, Honeyguide and Black-headed Duck come to mind. "These birds, called brood parasites, lay their eggs in another bird's nest and let the other bird parents feed and raise their chicks. The "egg abandoner" is then free to mate again and lay more eggs in another nest. The cuckoo is the best known brood parasite and an expert in the art of cruel deception. Its strategy involves stealth, surprise and speed. The mother removes one egg laid by the host mother, lays her own and flies off with the host egg in her bill. The whole process takes barely ten seconds. Cuckoos parasitize the nests of a large variety of bird species and carefully mimic the colour and pattern of their own eggs to match that of their hosts. Each female cuckoo specializes on one particular host species. How the cuckoo manages to lay eggs to imitate each host's eggs so accurately is one of nature's main mysteries."

I'm going to take a shot at my own question after just now finding a similar post from 7 years ago... also in a propane tank, same kind of materials. Consensus was Carolina wrens -- which I love, and which have been around a great deal. Do others agree? Carolina wrens?