I second the bird bath suggestion. I have six of varying types and sizes on our half acre-one is just a fabulous blue flower pot saucer that I picked up. Just be sure to change the water every other day or so to avoid hatching mosquitoes. In winter, I cover the large stone baths with a plastic contractor's bag that I mold to shape the basin so I can still fill it but avoid water getting into small fissures in the concrete, freezing, and cracking the bowl. Not pretty, but my concrete baths have lasted forever. May not be necessary, but I do it. Oh, and be sure to place the bath near a tree or shrub that offers protection if the soggy bird needs to get away quickly. My favorites to watch are the blue jays and the robins. They really revel in the bath! Too funny. Finches love my echinacea plants and it is such a joy to see the goldfinches perched atop them. I have never grown any from seed. I bought two plants years ago and they have spread nicely to create a decent stand. Also, get a feeder or two. I feed year round (no seeds or berries to speak of until mid-summer, you know) with hulled sunflower seeds, so no mess. I also put out a suet feeder with plain suet. The flickers and woodpeckers love the suet and if you use plain suet, you won't have a problem with squirrels eating it all! Have fun! The birdsong that will fill your yard year-round will be such a joy!

Could it be a white-breasted nuthatch? They are pretty common and plentiful in Virginia. I've attached a link with a photo. Let us know and if it isn't a nuthatch, we'll try to help with other possibilities. Jann Here is a link that might be useful: White-breasted Nuthatch

Hi, welcome to what can become a fascinating hobby. You can be involved in birding as little or as much as you like with any kind of digital camera with at least a 10 X zoom. Binoculars and point and shoot cameras start in the hundreds and run into the thousands if you switch to DSLR cameras, and the lenses can cost as much or more. But you don't have to take photos to enjoy birds, and I bot an excellent light-weight 24X pair of bins for $100 If you just want to feed birds instead of going out into their habitat, there are inexpensive feeder bird booklets in WalMart in the birdseed section. You can feed black oil sunflower seed in tube feeders, maybe have a hanging suet feeder and an inexpensive bird bath, but some people on this forum put in sunken pools or buy solar powered bird bath fountains, so you can pay anything there also. Left alone, Nature stays in balance, but when humans start putting out food things can quickly get out of hand. If you use tray feeders or feed scraps, dog food, cracked corn, peanuts, or cheap bird seed, you might quickly flood the neighborhood with aggressive non-native species such as Starlings and House Sparrows, as well as Grackles, Blue Jays, squirrels, chipmunks, and if you spread food on the ground, probably raccoons and rats..all quickly breeding and multiplying on your coin, and preying on the native song-bird population you want to watch. I only keep a couple of feeders under my eaves because I prefer to do my birding where birds are not artificially fed. Most feeder birds eat seeds or suet and I prefer to observe/photograph warblers and vireos, if I can do it. If you bird in a wildlife sanctuary, or near a wetland or ocean you might be able to bird from your car; I took many wonderful photos from the car when we visited FL over New Year. In fact, that's my preferred method now that it's tick season! That can work if you have a large bird that lets you approach, or a camera with strong zoom, preferably all three.. Here's a photo taken yesterday coming back from swimming on Poppy Mnt. We turned off the car engine and rolled forward to observe these wild turkeys crossing the road ahead From 3-21-09, Poppy

here anyway the chickadees head for the foothills and mountains in spring when it starts warming up and they mostly stay up where its cooler and where there are lakes and resevoirs unti the fall weather starts moveing them back down to the valleys. one reason chickadees find new feeders first is that they are very curious and friendly and don't fly away when you are out in the yard. some birds are attracted by colors also and many songbirds flock to flowers and bright colored feeders but also eat lots of insects that are around plants and flowers and gardens