What a gorgeous sulfur. From what I read, there is an outside chance it could find my senna patch. That would be wonderful! Thanks for sharing and broadening my world of butterflies. Sandy

Hi Kids, Happy New Year to you all. I saw my first Hawk in the yard today. I think it was a Northern Goshawk. I got a few pictures of it which I will post as soon as I am able. It was beautiful. It sounds like we are all enjoying the birds. The worms I always kept on hand for the Blues were live mealworms. I know you can get the freeze dried, but I have always used the live ones. They are not gross at all. They are small, only about an inch, dry and easy to handle...no slime. I order them on line and they arrive in a bag, inside a box. I take them out, put them in a shallow plastic container that has a lid and, put them in the lower part of the refrig. They last for a long time. I would even feed them apples so they stayed plump and happy. I think I got 5,000 for about $15. The Blues LOVED them. I was lucky enough to have a Flicker visit during my PFW count this past week. I was so excited. We seem to have a mini flock of 3 that now visit the suet feeder just about every day. They are so beautiful. I'll try to post the pictures of the Hawk. I would like to know if you all agree wtih my ID of it as a Goshawk. sooey

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.