I feed the birds all year sort of. They start with cleaning off the sunflowers that they plant the previous fall and continue to clean off the grasses, berries, and corn that I sometimes grow just for them. Of course I have water out all the time for them and a heated dish in the winter. I feed the big birds cat food with bread or cereal in it. They get any left overs when I cook a turkey or ham. I make my own concoction of peanut butter, prunes, hulled sunflower seeds, rolled oats, millet, black oil sunflower and a few other things they like to pick at. I buy millet, black oil sunflower and striped sunflower by the sack and keep it in large bins in the hall along with peanuts,hulled sunflower seeds, oats and rabbit pellets. Once in a while I will give them a treat of meal worms from the petstore or cut up fruit. And sometimes I will get a seed bell or spray millet just to watch them. I also ground up dry catfood last year and put it in the feeder. The little birds get much needed fat and protein to keep warm that way. I have the usual black and white feather dusters, the blue jays, lots of chickadees (black capped and boreal), nuthatches (red and white breasted), woodpeckers, northern flickers, juncos, finches, sparrows, the odd grosbeaks, waxwings, and redpolls and I even had a kestral last spring. Not many crows unless it is a really warm winter. My computer is in the corner of the front bedroom where there are the old corner windows. I feed the birds from about 5 feeders and baskets hanging from the big white spruce about 2 feet from the corner of the house here. I feed the rabbits under the tree and the dish feeders on the fence from big heavy ceramic dishes. It is such a routine for me to feed the birds after I feed the dogs on winter mornings. My neighbours are used to the crazy lady in her fleece pjs out feeding the birds every morning and the dogs go out and wait by the fence for the maggies to drop food for them. Quite the scene to watch! The maggies are very comical and they literally talk to me. I can't stand to see anything go hungry or be cold and the little birds seem to like to feast under the protective branches of this 50 foot spruce. My neighbour across the street says she likes to sit with her coffee in the morning and watch the bunnies and birds eating. And that reminds me: Must find a bale of hay for the bunnies. Last year I fed a cat all winter but coudln't catch her. She left me mice most mornings under the kennel....... I hope we have a mild winter or at least get some snow. It is bitterly cold without a little insulation. Ginny

There are plenty of hummers in Miami, just at a different time of the year than the ones in Central Florida. I believe (and I learned this here in the group) they get to your area in October or so and stay through the winter. It is the opposite in central Florida. And though the ruby-throated hummer is the "normal" one nesting east of the Mississippi, a few other species are seen from time to time in the main part of the state, but even more "rare" ones are spotted in south Florida. So YOU could get even more varieties than we do here. Get that hummingbird garden going! "If you plant it, they will come!" Eventually! Tony, the fermented nectar really could make them tipsy, but mostly, it makes them sick, and they won't come back to that feeder again. (Assuming it doesn't kill them.) Hummers DO eat insects, as well as nectar, especially during the nesting season. I've seen them feeding in oak trees, and flying back to their nests, where they feed their young tiny bugs and spiders. If you suspect you have a nesting hummer, watch closely for it. The ruby-throateds build lichen covered nests about the size and shape of a marshmallow, and lay two eggs the size of very small jelly beans. They really aren't much larger than the little white lizard eggs you findin flower pots. When the female sits on the nest, her beak hangs over one side and her tail hangs over the other. The little nest is glued directly onto a branch and is hard to see, unless you spot the female flying to it. They are such fun to watch! I haven't had any this year (or at least haven't spotted any) so I'm planning to add a lot more good plants for them. My coral honeysuckle is blooming well, and I'm hoping it will soon have them coming. Good luck, all you hummer lovers! Marcia

There is no surefire way to keep birdseed from sprouting. Some people sterilize bird seed by heating it on a cookie sheet in a 300 degree oven for 30 minutes, but that is a lot of work to do on a consistent basis. Some people rake up the spilled seed once or twice a week with a Shop Vac. You can buy the sunflower chips (shelled, broken sunflower seeds) and they won't sprout because they have been "damaged" by being broken. They are more expensive than mixed birdseed, but there is no waste. You can rake the area under the feeder once or twice a week to break up the sprouts before they are well rooted. Sometimes ground-feeding birds eat the seed spilled onto the ground before it sprouts--it just depends on how many ground-feeding birds you have hanging around your yard. At our house, birdseed and hen scratch don't get a chance to sprout because the doves (and cottontail rabbits) eat it all. There are many plants you can incorporate into your plantings to attract birds. Many of them will attract butterflies and hummingbirds as well. TREES: Trees like oaks, cedars, elms and hackberrie provide food, cover and nesting sites for birds. NATIVE PLANTS are the ones that most attract birds since these are plants they already use as a food source. These include trees, shrubs and vines like junipers, yaupon hollies, possumhaw hollies, viburnums, Mexican plums, rough-leaf dogwood, elderberries, sumac, Virginia creeper vine and red mulberry. Pretty much any tree or shrub that produces berries or other small fruit (like crabapples or persimmons) will attract birds. Blackberry and dewberry brambles attract birds, as do fruit-bearing trees like cherries, peaches and plums. To Attract Hummingbirds: You can attract hummingbirds using hummingbird feeders, but you have to change the nectar about once every three days to keep it from fermenting and harming the birds. They also are attracted to plants. Here's some you can plant that they like: Red-flowered yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora) American Cross-vine (Bignonia capreolata) Trumpet Creeper (Campsis radicans) Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis) Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) Red-flowered Morning Glory (Ipomoea sp.)(annual) Cypress Vube (Ipomoea quamoclit) (annual) Purple Horsemint (Monarda citriodora) Wild Bergamont (Monarda fistulosa) Spotted Beebalm (Mondarda punctuata) Tropical Sage (Salvia coccinia) (usually annual, may reseed)(aka Texas Hummingbird Sage) Autumn Sage (Salvia greggii) False Indigo (Amorpha fruticosa) Heart-leaf Hibiscus (Hibiscus cardiophyllus) Scarlet Hibiscus (Hibiscus coccineus) Standing Cypress (Ipomopsis rubra) Drummmon's Phlox (Phlox drummondii) Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja indivisa) (spring wildflower) Lantana (Lantana horrida) Many birds are attracted to composite flowers that provide seeds, including sunflowers, zinnias, Mexican sunflower, purple coneflowers, safflowers, etc. After they bloom, you don't deadhead them if they were planted for the birds. You leave the flowers on the plants so the birds can "harvest" the seeds as they dry. Don't forget to provide some kind of water source for the birds--a birdbath, a mister, a dripper, etc. Different kinds of birdseed attract different birds. To attract goldfinches in the winter months, put out a goldfinch feeder filled with thistle seed. Sometimes you can attract orioles by putting out oranges, orange-flavored nectar or grape jelly. Dawn

Aside from feeders and water, mixed plantings will attract a wide variety of birds. My lot has numerous canopy trees, understory vegetation and shrubs, some open areas, and some dense evergreens and thickets of things like Crabapples for cover and berries. And several gardens with a mix of many native perennials and grasses, and annuals that make seeds and harbor insects for the birds. As previous posters stated, attracting insects is important because 90% of terrestrial birds raise their young almost exclusively on insects, such as the larvae of moths and butterflies. The best way to nurture a healthy population of insects is to plant woody plants that are native to your region. Although most people don't think it looks tidy, and are usually compulsive about cleaning up dead wood, it's very attractive to all cavity nesters to leave a dead tree or two standing and even dead branches, if they are safely located and won't drop on the house or deck or anything. Birds also love to perch on dead lower branches in trees. My back yard is much more naturalized than the front and I've left about 10 or so dead pine tree snags standing back there, some of which are old enough to have multiple woodpecker holes. This year there are White-breasted Nuthatches and Eastern Bluebirds nesting in the dead snags that I've noticed so far! :)