Dawn, We had a painted bunting that came to our feeder in Lone Grove. The first time I saw it, I thought it was a pet that had gotten away from someone. The colors looked like a parrot but of course it is much smaller than that. He continued to come to the feeder all summer and I think he returned the following year also. I only fed regular bird seed but there was a bird bath next to it and I think the water was the attraction because the birds didn't have a natural source of water anywhere near. I don't think they are listed as coming into Oklahoma either. Susan - If we hang a thistle feeder here in the spring, we have dozens of American Gold Finch. They are cute little birds. I never see a blue bird here, but I live in a lot of trees and I think they like wide open spaces best. A couple of years ago I could hear something banging on the house. At first I thought it was a woodpecker because they will peck holes in your house and they really love my neighbors cedar siding. I followed the sound to the other side of my house and it became extremely loud. I went outside to look around and it stopped. Later it started again, and I went outside again. After several days of this, I was outside and I heard it start. It was a big black bird sitting on top of the chimmney. Our chimmney has a metal cover that is solid on top and has mesh on the sides. He was sitting on top and banging his beak against the metal. I guess the noise was really bouncing around in that chimney because inside it sounded like someone hitting the house with a basketball -- repeatedly. After about a week, he moved on.

I've got cardinals, mourning doves, goldfinches, sparrows, black capped chickadees, I hear blue jays but they've snubbed my feeders thus far... and I still have grackles and starlings showing up. I used to have downy woodpeckers but have not seen or heard them this year, and I have not seen any hummingbirds yet. I did laugh when my husband's friend (who was over for dinner yesterday) looked at my nyger feeder, pointed and told his son, "Look, there's an oriole!" It was a goldfinch. And, much to my dismay, we had a sparrow fly into the door yesterday morning and die. We have done everything to reduce this -- moved the feeder further to the right, away from the flightpath; put one of those bird stickers on the window; left the glass rain-spotted for a while to break up the reflection. We had gone a long time without any deaths.

Those are nice pics! I wish I had a few birds around right now to to take pics of. I do have a few downeys. I am new in here. Is it hard to post a pic?

Wow - beautiful clear photos! Thanks for sharing these. That Caracara bird is very unique looking. Is it native to where you live?