The grass is "always greener" in the other zones, isn't it? LOL .... I enjoyed your garden web page and thought a tea cup birdfeeder would be pretty in it. Here are two links I just searched for: http://www.toatea.net/ and http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/10496/create_a_tea_cup_bird_feeder_for_your.html --- (I have nothing to do with those links. I just enjoy garden ornaments that work well with a garden's theme.) Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Tea Cups

Jane, if you only have one feeder out, you might try a good mixture with black oil sunflower seeds stirred into it. Don't get the cheapie kind with those little reddish-brown "BB's" in it. I have never seen ANYTHING actually eat those. I get mine at PetSmart, and I really love the Stokes mixture that has no hulls in it. I feed it, black oiler sunflowers and safflower seed. Safflower seed goes into a feeder that doesn't have squirrel protection, because they don't really like it, but cardinals and titmice do. HOWEVER, no matter what you are feeding, there will be times when birds are not around for various reasons. I have hardly any right now, mostly due to a pair of hawks hanging about our neighborhood. And even without the hawks, birds often disappear for a few weeks now and then. One more thing...don't forget that WATER is probably even more important than seed in luring birds to your yard. You'll notice that most of Maureen's pictures feature her great birdbath. Be sure to provide several "baths" around the yard. They can be anything from decorative features to trashcan lids on the ground with 2" of water in them. I often turn clay pots upside down and put a clay saucer on top for water. Keep the water CLEAN and shallow, maybe even adding a rock in the center for birds to stand on. Good luck! Marcia

So here's another challenge for you. I have a little bird I thought was a Carolina Wren. It comes every spring and nests in apple-shaped gourd houses I have hung under my grape arbor. When threatened, it does have an alarm call much like the Carolina Wren's. But it's normal song is not like the recording for that bird. It's a long song, of several high-pitched and varied notes and warbles. Really unmistakable. The bird is a small taupe bird with a long slender and sharp-pointed beak. It builds its nest of short pieces of small sticks, I've never seen its eggs as I didn't want to disturb things. When it looks for food, it gets on the ground under the plants and kind of hops around under the "canopy". I just went out to try to get a picture, and wouldn't you know it, I could hear it in the neighbor's yard but it was nowhere around in my yard.

So that's where my belted kingfisher went. I think they are so cool looking. Can hardly wait for spring to see them around here again.