Lin - My "raised" beds are built up about 12" from ground level! And I hear you about having a problem getting up if you've been sitting that low for a long time. I make a point of getting up every now and again to make sure my hips don't lock up. (I HATE getting old.....!)

What I have a LOT of in my yard is host plants for the various species of butterflies and nectar plants that bloom in Fall and Winter for the hummingbirds and butterflies. My yard comes alive in Winter with blooms. But that is not entirely true ... I have over 350+ (I lost count) daylilies in raised beds everywhere .... kind of my plant obsession .... I am a daylily addict. It is mass chaos ... no lie. I do not have a prim and proper flower garden at all. Not even close. Jungle gone mad! The usual (kind) comment I get from visitors is, "Wow! That's a LOT of plants to maintain!" Meaning, can't you maintain them? LOL!

And a bird feeder set-up for both big and smaller birds. My neighbor just told me yesterday that she saw the first male Painted Bunting at her feeder .... so they are on the move south! YAY!!! I notified the bander and I hope to get a photo of it if it comes to my feeder to see if it is banded.

I recently moved my hanging feeders so now I can see the birds much easier from a window. I set my camera on a tripod and wait from inside my house so as not to spook the birdies.

The birds are in their UGLY stage currently, as most are molting right now. Getting all pretty for the influx of over-wintering migrant birds that will soon be heading our way! Winter gets really interesting here with all kinds of visiting birds! I can't wait! Wished I was retired to see them more, but I work 5 days a week and will back at school next Monday.....

The watch-birds:


Bluejay and Cardinal. (Bluejay is molting his head feathers.):


These birds are just comical. The white-winged dove (in the front) is the boss of this feeder. They all mind their manners when he/she is at the feeder! :

Becky, great photos. The Jays are so funny looking when they molt! I remember the first time I saw one looking like that I thought something was wrong with it, that it had some disease or something. Looks like you've got a nice variety visiting the feeders, Grackles, Jays, Cardinals, Doves ... and soon hopefully some of the colorful little rainbow buntings! I hope you get some pic's if you see any of them and it will be interesting to hear if they are banded or not. I sure hope when we move down there next year that I can attract a few Painted Buntings to my garden.

LOL, I'd love to have a few raised beds but I'd like them about 4 feet off the ground ... that would make it so easy!

Lin - So true!

Kim - Interesting seed mix. Thanks for that link.

I think to incorporate flowers within all the different salvia bushes, I need to plant bulbs. I have a rat problem (probably because of my fenced in yard ... the rats are safer inside my backyard than out in the open). I have a tarp under my bird feeder that I roll up and dump all the left-over seeds at the end of the day. The neighbor next door has what seems like a sports bar going on and the BBQ grill grease is a magnet for rats. We had some feral cats, but a resident a few streets over had them all trapped and removed. So now the rats are back. Maybe the bobcat will be back or the foxes or coyotes. It will be interesting! I wished the owls would return. They helped also to keep the population down. I am seeing big indigo snakes and that is good. They will eat the babies. I am constantly checking everywhere in my yard for rat nests. There is one up in my Oak Tree being built. I need to purchase a long extension pole to knock it down. It's a constant battle with raccoons and roof rats. I won't set out poison because any animals eating a dying or dead rat get poisoned, too. They are smart when it comes to traps. So ... life would almost be perfect if it wasn't for the darn rats!!!!

You somehow need to get more hawks. Besides Red-tailed Hawks, Cooper's can prey on rats. One of my children saw that. At that time we had a squirrel whirly-gig with corn on it, to lure a squirrel from the bird feeders. The squirrel moved on (They don't last long out here in the open), but a rat would be seen on it now and again. This child was looking out the window when he saw a Cooper's fly in and snag the rat. That is what I call a rat trap!

After asking around, more experienced birders say that typically the younger Cooper's are not agile enough to go after fast birds, so will take easier prey early on. That really improved my opinion of them. I figured it wasn't a big deal if they ate the occasional Junco as well deserved payment for any rats they take.

I had a long paragraph about feral cats, but deleted it.

I am so thrilled @beckygardener that you do not use poison. We stopped for the very same reason. Ugh... I just remembered that the rat and mouse poison did not get taken to the hazardous waste drop off with other things we do not use any more.

I didn't get a photo, but an adult Red-headed Woodpecker just came to the feeder. I am increasing what I put out for them, so there are peanuts right now. In the heat of the summer, there are plenty of seeds and insects for the birds so slow down feeding. I've been missing the birds though. Today had male and female Baltimore Orioles at the oranges, too. Oh, I like color at the feeders.

I learned that Year-round suet bought from the store can mold. Got that out of the upside down feeder.

I read here frequently I don't get many snaps of Birds , I enjoy them ,, here's a short story ..
Well this female Goldfinch , eating Sunflower seeds , I walk into the yard ,, She looks up at me , then jumps onto the power line , still looking at me ,, and then ,, right as a snap the shot ,
She turned around and mooned me ,,!!!

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man." That's the town motto of Springfield on "The Simpsons". Glad to see the word getting used.

And since Becky mentioned and showed us a "white-winged dove", I now have Stevie Nicks' "Edge of Seventeen" stuck in my head. Sing it with me, folks!

All this rain has flooded various parts of the region and so the birds are hanging out in different locales. I think my local cow pasture is too deep now for most of the birds. I was driving up one of the roads in my neighborhood the other day and saw a Great Egret with something wriggling in its beak. It was in a ditch and I was trying to figure out if fish could have gotten in the ditch or not? I can't imagine what else it was, though. South Tampa had catfish swimming in the streets so I suppose anything is possible. The other evening after it rained I saw several birds holding their wings spread out. I assume they were drying them. It's a cool pose that really lets you see a lot of the bird's body so I thought that was neat.

Just like the white winged dove
Sings a song
Sounds like she's singing
Ooh ooh ooh
Just like the white winged dove
Sings a song
Sounds like she's singing
Oh baby oh said o

At least I know what a White-Winged Dove looks like now. I guess I always assumed it was the all white ones people release at weddings at stuff.

Jim got mooned by a Finch!

I like Jim's sense of humor.

I may have missed the Red-headed woodpecker, but I got a relation. Young birds are always enjoyable to watch, but by far, one of my favorites are juvenile Red-bellieds as they explore their world. This is one of the youngest we have seen.

This was so funny. The young'n had been exploring the platform for some time, when it found a peanut. I could imagine it saying, "Yay for me, I found a treasure. Not sure what to do now, but it's mine. "

It could not keep a hold of it.

It looked down for a bit...


But like many young children, it lost interest pretty quickly and went back to exploring the platform. After a little bit, it got more food from dad.

You gotta love those kids!

Melanie, I learned a couple of years ago that Egret's eat things other than fish. The following is from Wikipedia:

~ The Great Egret feeds in shallow water or drier habitats, feeding mainly on fish, frogs, small mammals, and occasionally small reptiles and insects. ~

These photos of a Great Egret eating a turtle are from 2013, fuzzy and out of focus because the Egret was down aways behind a neighboring house and my camera didn't have a great zoom. I couldn't figure out what it had in it's mouth until I downloaded the pictures and I was stunned to learn that their diet does consist of things other than fish. That turtle was small but I did see the Egret swallow it! How in the world do they digest something like that??? That's when I went googling and reading about their diet.

Jim, Love the mooning Goldfinch! Sometimes I think birds do stuff like that just because they know we're taking their picture!

Kim, LOL, cute series of that juvie Red-bellied WP! The young ones sure are a lot of fun to watch!

i would of rather had the Finch looking at me , I really would have ,
I saw a Bluebird this past week for the first time in decades ,
With the Sunflowers making seeds , every time I go morning or evening gardening the Finches complain

Some humor helps , most of the time

I love my bluebirds! We have out a bird box in the back garden bed and I put out mealworms for them. I also set a box on the farm and have had one brood in there also this year. I love the warbling sound they make.

Guess who this is on a sunny day.

Grrr....

Kim, what a cute lil' Wren butt. At least it looks like a Wren to me.

Wren.

It's that silly Sedge Wren we've been trying to photograph for days!