Those winter scenes sure are familiar! We have about the same amount of snow here. I actually would welcome more snow since my husband's business relies on snow revenue and the past 2 winters have been brutal on his business and our pocketbook. I'm not crazy about it personally, but it is 'white gold' to many. Plus, I do like it blanketing my daylilies over the winter. We have the same birds at our feeders as well. I so enjoy all the birds in the dead of winter. We have feeders everywhere, of every kind imaginable, and suet cakes too. My favorite feeder is the one right by my kitchen window where I can watch the birds up close while I do my dishes. My cats like to sit and watch them too and cures their winter boredom. I am always happy to hear that a kitty has found a loving home. Lucky Marmalade to show up at your doorstep! As I've mentioned before, I am jealous of all that land you have....just wonderful open space. I have too much of woods around me and not enough sunlight! Celeste

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

I came to this forum in search of this very same topic. I have not fed hummers in the past, I was really just working on getting my gardens established. Last fall I had a hummer come through my yard and I didn't even have a feeder out (I remember seeing him at one of my perennials but I don't recall which one.) Anyway, this year I've added more hummer-friendly flowers even though none are blooming right now I did set my feeder out 3 days ago just in case. My neighbor told me she had a Hummer at her feeder last week so I'm guessing I might've missed my window. I've noticed that the robins (most numerous bird in my yard) are constantly flying around the HB feeder and landing on the shepards hook that the feeder is on. The feeder is Very close to a small lilac shrub (didn't bloom this year - too new I think) and a very mature cherry tree. All the birds in my yard LOVE the cherry tree. I haven't even had to set out a bird feeder this year, I just toss stale bread out once every few weeks and they have a field day between that, the cherries and the worms/grubs/insects in my yard. I just wonder if it's too much bird activity for hummers?

Yesterday seemed like the first real spring day here: relatively warm, and windy. I saw lots of migrating birds, including several turkey vultures, lots of hawks, and even a group of what I think were 5 American white pelicans, way way up (sometimes it pays to look up into the sky alot). Two weeks ago I caught a glimpse of a fence lizard, probably the first one I've seen since about November. Here in Santa Fe, the currant and elderberry bushes are just starting to leaf out, the junipers and elms are releasing pollen like crazy, and all the tough little herbaceous perennial plants are starting to come up. We have yet to see any fruit trees flowering (which is a good thing). It's really neat to hear what's going on in other parts of the state, for example, the swallows... I won't expect to see them at my house until late April. The old-timers used to say it was safe to plant out chiles when the swallows had returned.