LOL Tsuga. I think with the warmer weather we were having I was getting overzealous. I even started painting my garage, yet to be finished. I've been feeding suet all winter. In the past month, I've seen my first downy woodpecker as mentioned earlier, and another unidentified bird...same size as a sparrow, almost looks like a sparrow at a distance, but a closer look shows a muted red on its head and neck region, and when they spread their wings you can see a red spot on their back. Not bright red like a cardinal, a soft muted red. I've never seen them before. In one glance, I have robins, cardinals, juncos, the unidentified bird, chickadees, and usual sparrows in my yard. Tons of activity. They seem to be enjoying the new evergreen thuja green giant I planted last year too. I just purchased some black oil sunflower last night, have to figure out where I'm going to put it. I read the seeds inhibit plant growth.

I've read about how vicious sparrows can be. I hate sparrows. They can empty out my bird feeder in a couple of hours. Throwing most of it to the ground. The neighbors have a lot of opening on their houses that the sparrows are nesting in. When the holes get bigger the starling then get in and drop crap all over my car. A sparrow worked to make the opening bigger this winter with out success. The chickadees must keep a low profile early on. That evening, just before sunset, one of the babies was hangin on the outside of the hole and then flew down to the ground and hide in the bee balm. The next morning it was on the grapevine. The next evening another one left around the same time. Must be a plan to leave then. They are now in some evergreen trees. I've heard the parents warning them when there are bluejays around. Today I saw one of the adult chickadee chasing a sparrow.

Jannie, we too have Mallards in our neighborhood. Been showing up for years. Actually they roost in our front yard, the next door neighbor's yard, or at the curve on our cul-de-sac. There were here just last week while we had a large gathering of neighbors for a driveway party at our house. The pair of ducks sat six feet from us without a care in the world. I almost took a photo of them to post here but got busy and forgot. Anyhow, in the beginning there were three of them, two males and a female and we (the neighbors) named them Peter, Paul and Mary. At the time, the gal next door was crazy in love with a guy named Peter. One morning I get a tearful call from her telling me Peter had been run over. My heart just broke for her. I asked where it happened and she said ... "at the end of the cul-de-sac, didn't you see it this morning?" It was poor Peter the duck and while it was sad indeed, we crack up every time we tell the story to someone. The human Peter is alive and well. Jodi-

I see, good ol rabbit poo lol. Maybe I should ask some of my customers for their rabbit poo and mix it in with my coir and growstones lol, might be a bit of a stink though in the grow tent