LOL, schoolhouse, that was the first thing I thought too - how healthy everything looks! My plants have lots of ratty foliage and bug-eaten blooms, lol. I've got to get myself a nice little point-and-shoot. My DH bought me a beautiful digital SLR camera with complete manual over-ride, which I am still trying to learn. For serious photography it's great, but to run out to take a quick pic for ID or something like that, it's a pain. Have fun with your new toy! Of course we now expect lots of pics! :) Dee

DH made a comment this is one time my big mouth may come in handy LOL!! LOL! I'm not going to rant on about cameras, forgot that Panasonic that took nice HD videos. The Sx IS series wasn't quite what I wanted as a backup camera, but I did like the tilt screen and got some decent photos before I gave it away. It does take really nice macros. At the tele end, all I could see was a huge blur and the way you control the zoom, it took too long to get my subject in the viewfinder. I went for it because of the 12X zoom. But to be fair, I have a nice telephone lens. It is tricky to use on moving subjects.

Jane, if you only have one feeder out, you might try a good mixture with black oil sunflower seeds stirred into it. Don't get the cheapie kind with those little reddish-brown "BB's" in it. I have never seen ANYTHING actually eat those. I get mine at PetSmart, and I really love the Stokes mixture that has no hulls in it. I feed it, black oiler sunflowers and safflower seed. Safflower seed goes into a feeder that doesn't have squirrel protection, because they don't really like it, but cardinals and titmice do. HOWEVER, no matter what you are feeding, there will be times when birds are not around for various reasons. I have hardly any right now, mostly due to a pair of hawks hanging about our neighborhood. And even without the hawks, birds often disappear for a few weeks now and then. One more thing...don't forget that WATER is probably even more important than seed in luring birds to your yard. You'll notice that most of Maureen's pictures feature her great birdbath. Be sure to provide several "baths" around the yard. They can be anything from decorative features to trashcan lids on the ground with 2" of water in them. I often turn clay pots upside down and put a clay saucer on top for water. Keep the water CLEAN and shallow, maybe even adding a rock in the center for birds to stand on. Good luck! Marcia

Laura, nice pics! Yes to everything johnjsr said. Definitely a Carolina wren...aren't they cute...and so much song from such a little bird. And definitely a young red-bellied woodpecker. He's learning already that your feeder is a nice supplement to his insect diet. Not many woodpeckers are very interested in regular feeders, but the red-bellieds always comes to mine. And when they're feeding there, they RULE. The other birds stay away from them. That beak is formidable, I guess. You're lucky to get a shot of a titmouse at all. They tend to move in fast, grab one seed, and take it back to a branch somewhere to hammer it open. (They hold it with their feet and hammer at it with the sharp tip of their bill. They can't crack sunflowers like cardinals do without a this bit of strategy.) They do tame down if you work at it, and I've hand fed some titmice at one of the local parks before who will take peanuts from you. But more often, they are fast and shy. John, there is a post in the archives that explains how to upload pictures to here from Photobucket, etc, but I don't have the link right now. You can search for it, or I'm sure someone will post it for you. If not, feel free to email me offlist and I will help. Thanks for sharing, Laura. Marcia