Following up, a few months later... Things seem to be back to normal in the garden (thanks again for all of the advice and support). Nothing dead, and even a few new creatures -- a toad (must've come over from a man-made garden pond nearby) and a bunny (an unpleasant surprise -- living in an urban area, this is our first rabbit ever, in four years!). Birds are plentiful, and we're seeing a few goldfinches come by as the coneflowers dry up. I spent the summer enjoying the garden mostly from the inside... next spring will bring a clean slate and I can stop feeling funny about being out there (and about being here). Interesting, though: Like Hyta, I had not one Japanese beetle. Not a one. And I didn't spray anything besides all-season oil for aphids. Saw this in the newspaper today about more dangers from imidicloprid, this time about lingering dangers to honeybees: "Unfortunately, we are learning that Merit has some ugly side effects, namely causing what has been called colony collapse disorder, where thousands of honeybee colonies are disappearing for no obvious reason. Now we know that any plant that is treated with Merit and has blossoms that attract bees, those bees will receive a non-lethal shot of Merit. But it will cause them to lose their ability to find their way back to the hive. It also weakens the bee's immune system so the bee usually dies of some fungus or virus. ... "We yardeners can't deal with the bee problem in agriculture, but we definitely can take a look at how we are using Merit in our own yard. Some of the most effective and popular systemic insecticides for rose bushes have Merit as the main ingredient. Honeybees will always work over rose blossoms and so are exposed to a little bit of Merit -- enough to affect them badly." Provided the link for those of you who want to read more. (P.S. Maryl, I made sure to spray my clothes each time; thanks for the tip. And Joanne, now you must forgive me. I never have any e-mails about responses to a post. Still, please accept *my* apology for not responding sooner to say it's no big deal at all. :) )

I know this is a bit late, but people obvuously still have access to it & thought it was super important for everyone to know... When you find a hummingbird that seemingly appears dead - double check to MAKE SURE IT'S NOT JUST SLEEPING!!! There's plenty of sources out there that explain SLEEPING HUMMINGBIRDS that APPEAR DEAD but are actually in a PSEUDO-HIBERNATION STATE alled TURPOR! You may even find them UPSIDE DOWN, as their death grip o lm a tiny branch may have also slipped them into that position - BUT NOTE - THEY ARE NOT DEAD! While in the sleeping state of TURPOR, everything slows down so extremely slow in order to survive colder night temps, that it is often mistaken (I've found them that way myself)... and they are oblivious to ANYTHING, including human touch - since it may take them anywhete between 20 MINUTES TO AN HOUR TO WAKE UP OUT OF A TURPOR STATE.... EASILY MISTAKING THEM FOR BEING DEAD! As I have found them upside down & appearing dead, not to mention how INCREDIBLY LONG IT TAKES THEM TO WAKE UP - I had no idea of/ ever hears of TURPOR at the time! As such, all these years later - I am now wondering if I had actually buried a perfectly fine, living, slow breathing Hummer all those years ago... and the thought sickens me! I try thinking back to my having it in a box for some time before that & double checking several times - but the fact that it takes them anywhere from 20 minutes to AN HOUR TO WAKE UP... I just want people to KNOW TO REALLY WAIT & DOUBLE, TRIPLE, QUADRUPLE CHECK BEFORE BURYING OR DISPOSING OF WHAT THEY PERCEIVE TO BE A DEAD HUMMER - AS IT MAY ONLY REALLY BE SLEEPING!

I am from Rhode Island Trail is in northern RI Bluebirds are not hardy there flocks crash will high snow levels. And cold. Mild seasons they expand there local numbers. When there found dead in spring means there food supply was low and they expired. You will also see some dead threw out spring after a late cold snap the birds will just end up missing but we know it was the late cold snap. Many are weaken from the trip north once they show up and winter returns large numbers perish. It weeds out the old and sick. Ray

It is so disheartening to have baby bird deaths in your yard. I doubt there is a catbird nest high up in that tree. Catbirds nest fairly close to the ground. If you look around again, look for a nest (lots of small sticks and other stuff) near where the babies were, but low-ish; they like low, small trees too. I