I know exactly what you mean, Cathy. THis reminds me of a bittersweet moment I had several years ago. We had a redtailed hawk nesting across from the house. It was fascinating getting to watch the youngsters grow into young adults. Once I was poking around at the base of the tree and came across a freshly killed shorebird. It had puncture wounds but was not even partially eaten. I am assuming the adults brought it to the nest, but why it was never consumed will remain a mystery. I had absolutely no clue what it was, but after doing a bit of some reading I was guessing it to be a golden plover. I did the ziploc freezer bag thing and took it to a local Audubon member locally and he pretty well agreed on the id. These birds only come through on migration...you'd normally never see them. SO here was one lying dead under a hawk nest in a hickory tree in the middle of the woods. Maybe it was at the reclaimed mine lakes noth or west of us and got picked off by the redtail. Take advantage of the opportunities as they present themselves I guess.

Jean, I am in Dawsonville. I have posted to my neighborhood news, told the local bird supply store which I am sure thrills them no end and not something they want to advertise, told my HOA board. I was sort of peeved because they made a joke of it and wondered if the birds had "gotten into some of those bad peanuts". Not funny. I have found a lot of dead birds as I am in the woods often and know where they roost. In one spot where the juncos roost there were dead juncos all over the ground. I have 4 juncos out of a zillion left, 2 siskens and 1 goldfinch. I tried to tell the neighborhood as nicely as possible to keep an eye on personal pets, it's contagious, children should not pick up dead birds, and gee, we should have major bug issues this summer if our insect eating permanent resident birds get killed. They are nice people but they just don't get that everything ties together. It's a non-issue to them and I am just the crazy wildlife lady who gets a pat on the head. I'm actually fairly middle class normal. I don't know what else to do. I'm not even some ecology wildlife fanatic, just a woman who grew up in deep woods. I guess it's part of my upbringing to be aware of nature and I just don't understand the blase attitude. Then they open the door and let their cat out. I don't mean to rant, it's just sad to me.

I have the same problem with a tube feeder filled with safflower. The chickadees and house finches will toss out several pieces before deciding on one while the cardinals will land, take one seed, and eat it. Much like you, I've yet to figure out what's going on. I was using the tray that came with the feeder but that allowed the mourning doves to perch and eat. They would clean out the feeder in a day. Now without the tray in place, I'm going 3 or 4 days between refills. The downside is the seed getting tossed to the ground, which the doves end up eating anyway. So I guess it's a trade-off.

I know someone who tells me that swallows have been feeding at her hummingbird feeder - in numbers that have actually driven the actual hummingbirds off! The only thing I could think to suggest was to put out a shallow dish with water - perhaps they are actually in need of water rather than the sugar in the solution. I thought swallows were solely insectivores - but maybe not?