Lord! Look at how W-I-D-E he is!

He's a well fed guy ... we have a few like that around here too; I always worry that one will trip and fall and roll down the slope into the water. Can squirrels swim?

plantladylin said:Squirrel Smorgasbord!

He certainly was scarfing down the seed.

plantladylin said:He's a well fed guy ... we have a few like that around here too; I always worry that one will trip and fall and roll down the slope into the water. Can squirrels swim?

Can't you just picture one of those furry critters doing the "squirrel paddle"? Well, I do think I remember seeing a water skiing squirrel on t.v. once!

And, to prove that I wasn't dreaming, I just googled for "Water Skiing Squirrel": http://www.google.com/search?q...

... but I'm not going out to buy any tiny life jackets for the crew in my trees!

flaflwrgrl said:Lord! Look at how W-I-D-E he is!

Our squirrels are skinny by comparison to that one! I was taking shots of hummingbirds the other day and caught something else that uses the hummingbird feeder!
Black-crested Titmouse!

No kidding Linda! Who knew? Cool.

Soo cute, wish they were in my area.

The serviceberries have green fruits. I am sure the birds are already watching them. As soon as these start to ripen they get eatten by a long line of backyard visitors here.

Soon Rita, soon.

I recommend Serviceberries to anyone wanting to attract backyard songbirds. Birds love these fruits.

I don't know if any serviceberries grow down here. Now I remember Rita ~~~ it was your varieties of serviceberries that I looked up & they won't grow down here. I wonder if any others will.

Really? I am surprised. I was sure that serviceberries grew all over the country.

I will have to check.

Here is another shrub that is guaranteed to attrack backyard songbirds. The Mockingbird here tries to guard my hedgerow of them each year for himself but isn't very successfull. Besides the Grackles, Robins, Catbirds and Mockingbirds last year Waxwings came each day when the fruit was ripe until it was all gone. It is called Goumi. I bought mine at Raintree Nursery. This fruit is ment for people but it is so tart that mostly it is made into jelly. No matter, the birds go nuts for this fruit. Fruit pictured is not ripe yet but soon.

Another fruit that my backyard birds enjoy are the Mountain Ash Fruits. These they eat in the late fall after they get nice and ripe.

Sat on the front porch for a while and watched the House Wrens going back and forth, in and out of the nestbox with bugs for the babies. I also saw a hummingbird feeding on the honeysuckle vines in the front yard. I just love to watch the birds going about their busy lives.

Me too! For little berries, I have Brasil Tree and a small kind of mulberry tree, not to mention Pokeweed and Chile Pequin. I haven't seen any serviceberries anywhere in my area, but I know that there is some scattered and rarely seen ones elsewhere in the state.

Looks like female Brown-headed Cowbird and Cardinal.