I have another wren in the barn and I will be sad if I see a pile of russet feathers. They forage around too low and aren't afraid. My cats live in the barn. My two crab apples have very small fruit like a berry. They have no disease problems and bloom reliably but briefly in spring. The apples are not the colorful attractive ones that are bigger, but they are a good size for birds. I saw two bluebirds in one of them yesterday also. These trees were planted years ago. They are white with pink buds, very small fruit and were sold as disease resistant. If you are getting one for birds, check that it has fruit that persists into winter and small fruit. I will look in my file and see if I can find the name because my trees have been trouble free for thirty years.

Fantastic photos of the bluebirds and waxwings together. That is luck to see them together, let alone get a good photo. We have waxwings here all summer, but so often they are high up in trees, most people don't notice them. They like black cherries, and when i canoe the river i see them flycatching alot. And congrats newyorkrita on your bird garden paying off. Glad the Wentworths were well used, so many people report birds not touching the highbush cranberries. I saw cardinals picking at them once, but i think they were only after the pits inside. I may have to think about planting a Cardinal Candy viburnum. Winterberries - ive never had those last late in the year. I had a robin that would camp out until they were all gone, in December.

I just read an article that said Cedar Waxwings love wool and will make a complete nest out of wool. That is exactly what my pair have been doing. I had put the wool out thinking birds will line their nests with it, but in the case of waxwings, they actually construct their nests out of the wool. That is probably why they are ignoring the dog hair. It will be interesting to take a picture of the nest once they are done with it (don't want to disturb them) and see how it is constructed. The wool I offered probably is what made them to decide to nest in my yard as I have never had them nest before. What a stroke of luck that I had decided to offer wool. I had an old quilt that was filled with wool that was worn out so I thought I would use the wool. Good thing I did.

Thanks to you both, Lazygardens and bluegirl, I believe you are both right and I will continue to enjoy the mockingbirds and blue jays from the yard. I have two hummer feeders, two little bird feeders and one large bird feeder. Ive been spoiled by having the other birds being so close to the window, they have become personal to the cats and myself, being just inches to a few feet on the other side of the window. Right now, I have daily visits from about seventy to eighty mixed birds and hummers. House finches - two females and one male came in early spring, I think they were from last year, but they were new to me, I thought they were some kind of sparrow, I did a goggle search for a red headed sparrow, it came back with pictures and the name house finch, they had seven offspring. They stay at the feeders. Titmice are my favorite. One set of parents and four youngsters have three females and one male, going by the size of the black patches on their forehead. Cardinals mom, dad and five young, three males and two females, all hatched in late spring, mom had a large brood this year, seems like they will stay together, papa and momma is always close. In the early spring we had a good number of blue birds with a pinkish chest, and a yellow finch, haven't seen the blue bird since the middle of spring, any idea where the blue bird went would be helpful. The yellow finch will show up every two or three weeks. The hummers are another story, I have no idea how many females there are from one day to the next, but there have been at least six males from time to time, since they are in a constant chase with the females, I can get a pretty accurate count on the males, I have had as many as six females outside the window at once. Thanks again