This year we've had an influx of birds. I think the reason is that we have a number of shrubs that are maturing and starting to produce more and more fruit. We don't have a feeder filled at all, just filling up the bird bath. I counted 7 robins yesterday and there's at least one pair of catbirds, and an oriole stopped by the other day. All of them are hanging around the vegetable garden and bird bath. I was watching them with the binoculars this morning and the catbird pair was hopping in and out of the patch of Cilantro, pecking away at what I imagine are insects. Same pair was having a good time all around the cabbage plants. I don't have any seedlings per se to damage, and I'd be surprised if they were doing more than just looking for insects. My only concern is the droppings that are showing up on the foliage of some of the plants.

Deer are very fond of the new shoots on grape vines. Here in wine country deer fences are big business. Al

Our compost bin has for years been just 4 pallets which I originally tied together with binder twine. More recently DH has nailed it together. All we did until last year was dump all kitchen scraps with no layering or doing anything except removing the top layer to give it more time and digging out the black compost at the bottom. We only did that once a year in this cold climate. No muss, no fuss, no smells, and no expense. We live on a large acreage with deer, chipmunk, squirrels, mice, fox, coyote, cougars, and bears and only twice in 12 years has a bear been in the pile. He threw the pallets helter-skelter but otherwise no problem. I don't think bears are really attracted to the pile as they are around all the time and would be in it more often if they were. The other animals have never seemed to notice it except for the squirrels and a few birds but they don't eat much. ;-) When we lived in the city on a 60 x 100 foot lot we buried the kitchen scraps between the rows of the garden. Made lovely black soil out of the crummy heavy clay we started with. Again no muss, no fuss, no expense, and even less work than the bin system. I call that system "feeding the worms" and they do all the work. Since discovering this forum I'm trying for faster and more compost so am doing other things as well but all winter all we do is chuck the stuff in the bin. Once all the snow thaws I'll turn it, add more used coffee grounds and some wood shavings and use if for top dressing - kind of compost/mulch. IMO better to compost lazily than not at all.

In my area, KCMO, our fox and gray squirrels are interbreeding. Makes for some strange combinations. Gray squirrels with or without white bellys. Fox colored with white bellies and gray heads. Gray patches of fur on the rumps. The body sizes range from about 6 inches to 10-12 inches. It looked weird to see a squirrel hanging upside down on a bird feeder with one of the same coloration on the next feeder that appeared a quarter size of the biggie.