Hmmm... bird baths in the veggie garden. I'll have to try that one. Do you think birds would go after SVB moths? Trellised vegetables make good bird perches, one more argument in favor of pole-versus-bush choices, when applicable. Cracked corn as an attractant is risky; if you are growing vegetables, the last thing that you want to do is attract crows. Not the gardener's best friend... no praise for them, thank you. I have had success attracting goldfinches, which love the seeds of cosmos. Since I plant them in the veggie garden mainly to attract bees, this is an unexpected fringe-benefit. Maybe they don't eat bugs, but I like having their company while I am working. Next year, I plan to build a house on a pole to attract purple martins. They should reduce the population of flying insects - hopefully, a few deer flies! And while I'm hoping, maybe a few SVB as well. But before I sing too many praises, there was a time that my tomatoes were being eaten just as they would ripen. Since I have had trouble with voles, I put out mousetraps under the tomatoes in question... and caught birds instead. I guess the key is to attract only the _right_ birds! Here is a link that might be useful: Songbird diets

Ohhhhhhhhh, is that interesting!!! The seed is fresh, and I never dreamed anything could "hatch" from it ... what a wonderrrr-ful lesson! Thanks very much for your replies, I deeply appreciate it! Happy Spring and Summer! PS: I thought of the sadness in our hearts about Virginia Tech, but yet, these little tiny miracle birds come, to gladden our hearts a bit. Life is good ~ it seems!

Thanks so much for your response. To my surprise, the robins have taken up even closer to our house! Directly on our front porch and under cover, we've had two artificial ficus trees tightly stacked together in the corner. I was stunned when I opened the front door to get a package, and a female robin flew out from the ficus! Then later, I saw the bright male through the window. There is a nest, and the female is in it. My German Shepherd Dog has taken to lying in front of the door and seems to almost be "protecting" the robins in a way. He began barking a lot earlier this morning, and I saw some of the woodchips a bit messed on the front walk. This was in daylight. I thought a package had been delivered, but nothing there. My dog scared something off...I've never seen a cat nearby. If I open my door, the faux ficus trees are almost inside of our house! I'm not using the front door now and will enter and exit through the garage. I was wondering if I place some of my dog's fur around some shrubbery if that will deter squirrels, etc......my dog used to go after them when we lived on the Great Lakes (just moved in October)....he's not a fan of anything (short of the robins) coming to our front door "uninvited." So now....if something tries to attack the nest....it's literally at my front door. I still don't know if that will protect them, but they are really wedged in the corner in the fake ficus trees branches, and the trees would not be able to support a cat (I'm concerned about them supporting the new nest). My dog is at the door as I type. Very interesting. Hoping for the best....will allow them their privacy while my German Shepherd Dog looks through the big bow window and barks at whatever was out there. He does scent work, and is also our security dog....maybe with his help, the robins will make it this time.

I'm learning so much from this post! I just got a new zoom lens for my camera yesterday and I'm really getting into bird-watching! I have a nice bird-friendly yard and I'm just starting to set up a bird feeding station in the middle of one of my daylily/rose beds because of the good ground cover for shy birds. We lost a lot of our local robins from west nile a couple years ago and they are back in force, finally, this year. It just wasn't summer without our robins. I love the idea of using the sprinkler to bring up worms. I do have one warning tho. Raisins are deadly to dogs and if you have dogs, please don't put raisins on the ground where your dogs can get them. I just bought a bag of bird feed last weekend and didn't notice that it had raisins in it. I went thru that whole bag, piece by piece and picked out all the raisins and threw them away. We have two little breed dogs and they love to run around in our fenced in yard/garden. I don't want to lose a dog and I would feel horrible if I accidentally fed them raisins. Here is a link that might be useful: Raisin toxicity