Kato b thanks for that-you should be seeing a lot more Monarchs soon. The past three days I have released six a day. Today when I get home from work I have five more waiting that were born before I left. I found tons and they found me. Have you walked the Pittston River Park yet? I work right there so everyday I go for a walk before I go home and I see quite a bit of butterflies. Mostly Monarchs but a few C Whites. There is Milkweed all over the place by the river so they know where to go. Next year i'm going to have some more host plants in my garden so hopefully it will work. I've already bought Spicebush and Sassafras for the Spicebush Swallowtails. I'm going to add Hops Vine with more Dutchmans Pipe, Violets and Willow(I just can't decided which type yet) Have you also visited Perennial Point for flowers? They have a great selection and they don't use chemicals. They aslso sell alot of Butterfly flowers, like Dutchmans Pipe and Willow and things. Nice place. Well hopefully next year will be better. Aggie

Thanks, Penny. I guess it's just hard to imagine from my wintry location that there could actually be blooming flowers in a place as far north as Tennessee. If, as you say, the redbuds and buckeyes are blooming there, plus tree sap, and insects, and the occasional nectar feeder, I can see how they are subsisting. Looking at their northward advance from cold, still barren western PA, it just seems amazing. My concern wasn't so much that they couldn't stand the temperatures, (I know they can) just that it didn't seem to me that much would be in bloom before average high temperatures started to get into the 50's or 60's. On the other hand, when I think about it, Tennessee must be at least 2 and probably closer to 4 weeks ahead of us in their weather. When I think of where we will be by early to mid April, I realize that there will be quite a few more things in bloom like early azaleas, and some of the early flowering trees like plum, and the buckeye you spoke of that I have never actually seen around here. I knew about the ability of hummers (and caprimulgids like whippoorwills and nighthawks) to go into a torpor to wait out bad conditions, but it still amazes me that something as small as a hummingbird could be so tough and manage to find enough to eat in a landscape that still seems pretty cold and barren. I do realize that even tropical birds can stand surprisingly cold weather, as long as they have enough to eat. I guess the hummers are somehow managing to find it.

"Plant more flowers" is very very good. Heres an example for what happened in my yard. Last year during migration and before hummers were draining two 30oz glass pp209 feeders in two days time. This year I added many more flowers in my front flower bed to where it is nearly doubled plus the 4 feeders and the concentration was in the front yard. In the rear, I hung only one 30oz feeder never having to fill it in fact half-full was plenty. I am in the habit of just filling the feeders with what they will use in a 2-3 day period. So yes "more plants is very good" Just use what we know is safe, best bet!!!

I don't know that we have as many ants as past years, and I like 'em in general because they are great scavengers--you know, they carry away a lot of carcasses of dead insects. The ones we do have, though, really go after the hummingbird nectar if they get a chance. I think hummingbird feeders are like fast food for bees--they COULD go and get nectar from plants in the normal way, but why bother if that fast food restaurant is right there and convenient. LOL We do not have a shortage of bees here--always got lots and lots. A farmer friend of ours who lives maybe a little over a mile from us says he never has bees any more, and I don't know what to tell him. (Well, he sprays pesticides and he KNOWS they kill the bees, and he tries to spray when bees are not active, but I think his pesticide use probably is the problem.) At our house we have bees 12 months out of the year. In the winter months where their food supply varies from being extremely limited to non-existent, they come to the bird feeders, the hen scratch and the deer corn. I would say that, in light of the bee Colony Collapse Disease issues facing many, it is WONDERFUL that you have a lot of bees. Maybe all of us in rural areas can at least nurture and keep the bees we have even though the professional beekeepers are stuggling with CCD. Dawn