Scully, yep - we are a bit warmer here, but it's the overnight hard freezes that crack birdbath basins. On cold winter days, if I notice an ice skim forming, I'll add warm water too, but if I'm gone for the day the risk of freezeover escalates. The heater works 24/7. We've had a warm fall too, but if the Old Farmers Almanac is right, once it gets here, we're in for it this winter. Btw - Everytime I open this thread I get a mental picture of Woodstock ice skating on the birdbath - brings a smile to my face ....... thanks! Another little aside is that in the heat of summer, I take a pitcher full of ice cubes out to the birdbath - the flapping about definitely increases when I cool it down! :o) Love my birds!

That's a beautiful series of photos of your catbirds, Jane. They look like a garden ornament perched atop the shepherd's hook. We have catbirds. Their catlike calls are one of the few birdsongs I recognize. Mr Tunnels! Ha ha! Great name! Claire, your dragon looks wonderful in his new tri-colored metallic coat of scales. In addition to being the summer of the trees here, it also is shaping into another summer of the birds, even more so than last year. The house finches have babies in last year's swallow nest on the outside ledge under the porch roof. I think the female is building a second nest in the nestbox inside the porch while Dad cares for the first batch of babies. The barn swallows meantime are feeding little ones in the original ancestral swallow nest inside the porch. And, oblivious to the nesting birds, the hummingbirds are constant visitors to the nectar feeder hanging from the eaves. All these different birds, and others (goldfinches and occasional Baltimore orioles) perch on the branches of our crabapple tree in the front yard, and they look like brightly colored jewels amidst the pink blossoms. I really need to take some pictures with a better camera. In the barn, a pair of tufted titmice have refurbished their nest from several years ago and are in some stage of rearing little titmice. They are supposed to be cavity dwellers, but I guess their nook up in the eaves is close enough. Their nests are such delicate affairs with moss siding, like filigree. Perhaps the nicest surprise is that I have a pair of tree swallows nesting in my birdhouse, on the sawed-off utility pole out in my "orange garden." I had boarded up the entry hole to the house in frustration during my battle with the English sparrows. Since I hadn't seen an English sparrow in several years, I cautiously unblocked the door, hoping for bluebirds or tree swallows, and my wishes were rewarded. With the birds in residence on the porch, I scheduled the house painting until August or September, explaining to the head painter that his guys could just take down the nests prior to painting because the birds would be gone then. He asked "Do you want us to try to remove the nests so they can be put back up?" I replied, "No... demolition!" His somewhat relieved reply: "Ah demolition! That's a word I understand!" LOL! It made me laugh! These birds are master carpenters. They will rebuild next year from scratch, I've no doubt.

If it was in my yard I would hit the DELETE button as fast as possible! As a matter of fact it IS, or at least keeps TRYING to get into my yard! A few years back my neighbor planted a couple of them on their back fence. I told her to not do it, but she already had them and thought they were "pretty!" They immediately grew into the back neighbor's unmaintained hard-packed clay yard. Neighbor on side realized pretty quickly what she had "done," and removed everything on HER side of the fence (I was already spraying the ones that were spreading UNDER the fence into my yard!), but now it keeps growing back into her yard from the back neighbor's! Every time it gets close enough to my yard (several times a summer) for me to be able to spray it thru the cracks and over the fence with Weed-B-Gon, I do! I'll be fighting this stuff until the day I die--assuming I'm still living here when that happens!!! And, because it's so close, I now have seedlings coming up in my perennial beds every year too. Obviously if somebody decides to grow it or not is a personal choice, but be forewarned of how extremely invasive it will be once it gets going, and if it's anywhere adjoining a neighbor's yard, consider what you're doing to them too! Down with Virginia Creeper! Skybird

Pyrrhuloxia came up in our online search, but according to the info, we are not anywhere near its range and the markings of our bird are not quite right. The patches on the wings are almost orange. A leucistic Cardinal is a possibility, although the tail seems a little long for a cardinal. There are probably a lot of variations on the markings of these, so that could be it. It was still frantically fluttering around the barn this morning when we opened it up. Hopefully the bird will make its way out today. Thanks for the ideas!