I know nothing about birds i have had a small wooden bird house on my porch for 20 years i have had small sparrows or wrens living there and mating there for years This year i bought a hanging house like feeder which is hung about 4 feet away i never knew that people hate house sparrows i enjoy watching thrm sitting on top of the bird house once or twice i saw them at the feeder not much action I filled the feeder with classic wild bird food i hope i see more birds in the Spring any advice for me about seeds or sparrows i have never had a problem i just wanted to feed thrm thanks for your advice

jillmcm: ...We have a very nice woods bordering the east side of our yard that we cleared to ground level, about 15 or so feet back, 8 years ago (accept for the trees and larger saplings and burdock ~ which I enjoy and respect too much to cut back). We leveled the area because the previous owners had used it as a dumping site for waste construction material, & it became a haven for poison ivy and the like. In fighting that nasty plant back off the ground and trees, we all went through a bad time with poison ivy. Worth it. There is now a flourishing old giant umbrella shaped maple [my favorite] & a beautiful holly tree in the back yard, that we transplanted in a prominent place after digging it out of nearly being smothered by poison ivy, as a reminder of that painful/itchy season of endeavor. We, then, just let nature reseed itself in any indigenous way it would, ...while tossing a seed or two in from time to time. Now itÂs thick, beautiful & willful of more space, ...& we are prepared to enhance it with fruiting vines and such...once we get a good list of the MOST effective plants. IÂm thinking wineberry, blackberry, blueberry, sunflowers, buckwheat, Jack-in-the-pulpit, bluebells, goldenrod & some kind of aster ...for starters. There are some cleome, lavender, alyssum, echinacea, coneflower and morning glories there already; I seeded them, ...but probably NONE are indigenous [chuckle] plants. ~You said, "Also, adding a water feature, even something as simple as a glazed saucer with water dripping into it from a suspended milk jug with a pinhole (what I have three of), will bring even more birds in."~ Our water feature is a large concrete bird bath with hanging plants suspended above & to the side; their long branches dangling into the water along the sides of the basin. Sufficient?...or should I install some sort of moving-water device? ~You said, "The only time we've had a mocker in our yard was during a hot spell when they came to drink and bathe."~ Not sure why that notion has gone over my head, ...unless you are speaking of the Northern mockingbird Mimus polyglottos...or the likes of the Blue Mockingbird spoken of in the following poem: http://www.lukecole.com/Birds/Smew.htm Sorry for the wordiness of this post, ...but you have inspired my imagination.

Thanks, Rachel. This bird was a couple of yards from the feeders but wasn't interested in the seeds as much as he was in digging for insects. Coupled with redpolls and a red-bellied wp, these are all first-timers here in our yard and the migration is just beginning! gopal

kilian, I'm between Ann Arbor and Ypsi and the lack of birds lately is really bothering me. My husband reminded me that our Cooper's Hawk may be the reason so tomorrow morning I'm going to move my feeders away from my windows and closer to our huge conifer lot line, where I had them last year. I, too, got more birds of all types in Spring and Summer. However, this year I am not feeding after June 1 and not before November. I said that last year, but hope I follow through this year. I do think the lack of snow and very cold weather recently is a contributing factor. I feed safflower in one feeder, BOSS in another, a mix in another, and 2 or 3 suet feeders. 2 of my neighbors also feed, but I haven't talked to them about their business. In this drab weather I am really disliking the BOSS shells piling up on the ground. I wish safflower seed was not more expensive because I would put it in all my feeders as House Sparrows here didn't eat it. The millet in my mix just stays on the ground and I rarely see a Junco or native sparrow anymore. Even the chickadees are rare. I want to feed everything that comes to my yard too -- one can keep so-called bully birds with a mix in its own feeder away from other feeders if one wants to. Squirrels will go to a mix on the ground too. I don't understand the lack of birds either, but we'll see if moving the feeders makes a difference. I have baffles on my shepherds hooks, and 18-inch domes on feeders hanging from my eaves to keep the squirrels on the ground. I want to feed the doves and squirrels but I want them on the ground. I can't help you, kilian. I think the weather is a factor for you. I will keep you posted and you do the same. We're really lucky with our weather, compared to other parts of the States, so I don't really want to complain too much. Pat .