My mother had a demented cardinal that would repeatedly hurl himself against the kitchen window. She put a plastic snake on the window sill, and it stopped. But, then the same bird started hanging out on my mother's car, looking at himself in the car mirrors and crapping down the side of her car. He would do this all day long. This bird drove my mother crazy. She had to keep plastic bags over her car mirrors for several years so that she wouldn't have to clean bird crap off the car door every time she got in it. She even thought about hiring someone to shoot the bird. My "new age" aunt told my mother that she thought that the bird was my deceased father reincarnated as a bird who was trying to communicate with her. Frankly, I think my dad would know better than to crap down the side of my mother's car. LOL!

Jane, if you only have one feeder out, you might try a good mixture with black oil sunflower seeds stirred into it. Don't get the cheapie kind with those little reddish-brown "BB's" in it. I have never seen ANYTHING actually eat those. I get mine at PetSmart, and I really love the Stokes mixture that has no hulls in it. I feed it, black oiler sunflowers and safflower seed. Safflower seed goes into a feeder that doesn't have squirrel protection, because they don't really like it, but cardinals and titmice do. HOWEVER, no matter what you are feeding, there will be times when birds are not around for various reasons. I have hardly any right now, mostly due to a pair of hawks hanging about our neighborhood. And even without the hawks, birds often disappear for a few weeks now and then. One more thing...don't forget that WATER is probably even more important than seed in luring birds to your yard. You'll notice that most of Maureen's pictures feature her great birdbath. Be sure to provide several "baths" around the yard. They can be anything from decorative features to trashcan lids on the ground with 2" of water in them. I often turn clay pots upside down and put a clay saucer on top for water. Keep the water CLEAN and shallow, maybe even adding a rock in the center for birds to stand on. Good luck! Marcia

Oh, I'm so jealous of your grosbeaks and redpolls, Pudge! I think my neighbor is feeding too well, because the grosbeaks are always hanging around there and I'm lucky if they pop by for a brief visit. I did get some Evening Grosbeaks in for a good feed this spring and again this fall. That was a thrill to spot them, as I hadn't seen them before. I haven't seen a redpoll for about 3 years now. I find them so cute. The last time I saw a flock of them was early in the spring/late winter. Do they stay around all winter? Someone told me once that they cycle...and I don't remember why...was it their migration pattern maybe? I'd be interested to know if someone had any thoughts on that. I also had my first White Breasted Nuthatch yesterday! Another cutie and fun to watch...very vocal. He was still here this evening. RE: salt and birds...I'm thinking they probably require certain amounts naturally and find it somewhere, but with bird feeder fast-food that contains salt, they might eat alot of it because its easy to get and therefore get too much salt. Sound familiar? ie. potato chips! Gil, I wonder if the nuthatches would like your suet bars? Toots

sowngrow - lucky you! I am out there every night listening for the owls, but I think they have selected their nesting sites no it's no go for me this year. Keep taking photos so we can know how they are doing. I want screech owls badly (and turkeys, go figure) and yours are encouraging. This summer we plan to grow gourds for the first time. Any recommendation on seed brands? Got the type of gourd but don't know if any brand is better than another. builder24car - the horizontal roosting box 22" long, 8 1/2 deep, 7" tall front, 9" tall back. Roof over hangs 2" in front, 1" sides. Hole is 2" and the dowels were placed about titmice height apart, and so that the birds would not roost on top of each other, hence not poop on each other. I will take the front off & dowels out, add a small lip on the front bottom for doves & robins to nest in. They nest easily on shelves, and it's there so I'll use it. Understand our measurements are just stuff we are winging! It's untreated, unpainted rough cedar.