I live in brisbane, southeast queensland australia. here are a few other visitors that we feed and they come and they go plus a picture of the predator ( a young kookaburra) that will happily gobble up my fishies ( But we feed them anyway) its a constant stream of feathered visitors when we are home. enjoy the pictures

Looks like newborns to me. The wings are perfect and unblemished so they could have very well been the cats you saw in July. I just released 5 today from a brood found in the gardens in early August. Got 17 more to go and the Monarchs were out there laying more eggs today. I look at the raising of Monarchs as a winter sowing summer sidekick since all my Asclepias come from winter sowing. :O) Great shots! The third photo is a keeper for the photo album for sure!!

You should verify the "hay" species. Often times annual rye will be added to a mixture as the rye is a good starter and helps shelter the other seed. So long as rye is not applied ridiculously thick it often enhances the germination of other seed. If it is annual rye simply mow it in the spring before it seeds. Even it goes to seed it usually succumbs to "weeds" and will not return like it was orginally planted.

Beautiful bird! I've never had one at my feeder, but I'm not in a great location. Lately, lots of Palm Warblers, Yellow-Rumped Warblers, Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers, a pair of Phoebes, Red-Bellied Woodpecker, Blue Jays, Cardinals and Dove (mostly White-Winged). I still have a resident Red-Shouldered Hawk patrolling the area, but he's now been joined by a Cooper's Hawk. The song birds better keep looking up! Hope your bunting stays with you awhile! wt