Ok, I was just looking around the net and ran across some bugs.

So it got me thinking about something I've seen only once in my life and
I was wondering if anyone else had seen anything like it.

Now, for the oddball description.

I can not recall the color but I think it was green/red or something.

It was the size of a humming bird

It hovered like a humming bird

The odd thing was that it had curled antennas and a proboscis.


I'd only seen one once in my life, was with my father at the time who
said it may be a lady bird. No clue, I've googled that a few times and
nothing useful comes up.

So I was wondering if anyone's seen anything like this? It was very odd
and I wish I knew what it was.

On Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:45:43 -0600, Scott Hildenbrand
wrote:

Ok, I was just looking around the net and ran across some bugs.

So it got me thinking about something I've seen only once in my life and
I was wondering if anyone else had seen anything like it.

Now, for the oddball description.

I can not recall the color but I think it was green/red or something.

It was the size of a humming bird

It hovered like a humming bird

The odd thing was that it had curled antennas and a proboscis.


I'd only seen one once in my life, was with my father at the time who
said it may be a lady bird. No clue, I've googled that a few times and
nothing useful comes up.

So I was wondering if anyone's seen anything like this? It was very odd
and I wish I knew what it was.


http://www.desertusa.com/mag99/jan/papr/sphinx.html

http://www.birds-n-garden.com/hummingbird_moths.html

Also look on Google images for hummingbird moth.

"Scott Hildenbrand" wrote in message
.. .
Ok, I was just looking around the net and ran across some bugs.

So it got me thinking about something I've seen only once in my life and I
was wondering if anyone else had seen anything like it.

Now, for the oddball description.

I can not recall the color but I think it was green/red or something.

It was the size of a humming bird

It hovered like a humming bird

The odd thing was that it had curled antennas and a proboscis.

It's a moth, commonly known as the Hummingbird Moth. There's quite a few
different species. Here's one website that might interest you.
http://72.41.49.149/page5b.html

You could also Google "hummingbird moth" and go to the images, you'll see a
lot of them and possibly identify the exact one you saw.

Val

Charles wrote:
On Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:45:43 -0600, Scott Hildenbrand
wrote:

Ok, I was just looking around the net and ran across some bugs.

So it got me thinking about something I've seen only once in my life and
I was wondering if anyone else had seen anything like it.

Now, for the oddball description.

I can not recall the color but I think it was green/red or something.

It was the size of a humming bird

It hovered like a humming bird

The odd thing was that it had curled antennas and a proboscis.


I'd only seen one once in my life, was with my father at the time who
said it may be a lady bird. No clue, I've googled that a few times and
nothing useful comes up.

So I was wondering if anyone's seen anything like this? It was very odd
and I wish I knew what it was.


http://www.desertusa.com/mag99/jan/papr/sphinx.html

http://www.birds-n-garden.com/hummingbird_moths.html

Also look on Google images for hummingbird moth.

Kewl beans.. That is exactly what it is.. Thanks a bunch!

Hmmmm... Wonder why I've only seen them once, or maybe I've seen more
from a distance and assumed they were humming birds..

Oh well.. Wonder if I can attract them down here.. Saw my first Luna
moth, Cow Killer and several other odd things since we've moved so kinda
excited..

Scott Hildenbrand expounded:


Oh well.. Wonder if I can attract them down here.. Saw my first Luna
moth, Cow Killer and several other odd things since we've moved so kinda
excited..

Have you ever explored http://www.whatsthatbug.com ? Great site for
identifications and the just plain strange!
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************

Ann said:

Scott Hildenbrand expounded:


Oh well.. Wonder if I can attract them down here.. Saw my first Luna
moth, Cow Killer and several other odd things since we've moved so kinda
excited..

Have you ever explored http://www.whatsthatbug.com ? Great site for
identifications and the just plain strange!

Wow, cool! Hadn't been pointed to that site, before. Thanks! =)

--

Eggs

A flashlight is a case for holding dead batteries.

Thanks for posting that link, Ann. Very useful site.

Gloria

"Ann" wrote in message
...
Scott Hildenbrand expounded:


Oh well.. Wonder if I can attract them down here.. Saw my first Luna
moth, Cow Killer and several other odd things since we've moved so kinda
excited..

Have you ever explored http://www.whatsthatbug.com ? Great site for
identifications and the just plain strange!
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************

Scott Hildenbrand wrote:
Ok, I was just looking around the net and ran across some bugs.

So it got me thinking about something I've seen only once in my life and
I was wondering if anyone else had seen anything like it.

Now, for the oddball description.

I can not recall the color but I think it was green/red or something.

It was the size of a humming bird

It hovered like a humming bird

The odd thing was that it had curled antennas and a proboscis.


I'd only seen one once in my life, was with my father at the time who
said it may be a lady bird. No clue, I've googled that a few times and
nothing useful comes up.

So I was wondering if anyone's seen anything like this? It was very odd
and I wish I knew what it was.

I saw both the moth and birds this summer. It was thrilling because I
hadn't seen either since I was very young. The moth was fast and didn't
stick around so I could watch it. I just bought a feeder for next year,
don't know if the moths will use that or not but hope the hummingbirds
will. The hummingbirds came in real close to three of us standing there
talking, maybe 3' or so. It was my annual salvia sangria they liked,
the red spikey things that stuck out.

In article ,
Hettie(R) wrote:

Scott Hildenbrand wrote:
Ok, I was just looking around the net and ran across some bugs.

So it got me thinking about something I've seen only once in my life and
I was wondering if anyone else had seen anything like it.

Now, for the oddball description.

I can not recall the color but I think it was green/red or something.

It was the size of a humming bird

It hovered like a humming bird

The odd thing was that it had curled antennas and a proboscis.


I'd only seen one once in my life, was with my father at the time who
said it may be a lady bird. No clue, I've googled that a few times and
nothing useful comes up.

So I was wondering if anyone's seen anything like this? It was very odd
and I wish I knew what it was.

I saw both the moth and birds this summer. It was thrilling because I
hadn't seen either since I was very young. The moth was fast and didn't
stick around so I could watch it. I just bought a feeder for next year,
don't know if the moths will use that or not but hope the hummingbirds
will. The hummingbirds came in real close to three of us standing there
talking, maybe 3' or so. It was my annual salvia sangria they liked,
the red spikey things that stuck out.

Check at Lanny over in Rec.birds. Lanny bands hummingbirds!

http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html

If you have one humming bird feed you have one hummingbird. If you
have two humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird. If you have
three humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird if they are in sight
of each other. So place your feeds about your house not in sight of
each other that way one little beast can't protect it and you may have
many hummers .

Bill

PS 1 part sugar to four parts water and no dye. I like humzinger as
they don't leak.

http://www.hummzinger.biz/humzinger.htm

--

S Jersey USA Zone 5 Shade
http://www.ocutech.com/ High tech Vison aid

William Wagner expounded:


If you have one humming bird feed you have one hummingbird.

I had three hummingbirds using one feeder. Male, female and
offspring. Saw all three at once, one would use the feeder, the other
two perched nearby.
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************

William Wagner wrote:
If you have one humming bird feed you have one hummingbird. If you
have two humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird. If you have
three humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird if they are in sight
of each other. So place your feeds about your house not in sight of
each other that way one little beast can't protect it and you may have
many hummers .

I keep reading such presented as fact but in my experience I've not
found that to be true. I put out two feeders about two feet apart,
each with four stations, and have counted as many as six hummers all
feeding at once, and with others perched on a wire fence mere inches
away or hovering within a few feet.

http://www.hummzinger.biz/humzinger.htm

I won't buy feeders with a plastic food container, plastic becomes
etched and breeds bacteria. I use only glass, scrubbed once a week
with salt and soaked over night in a 4 to 1 water and white vinegar
solution... never use soap. It's really not necessary to feed
hummers, they do fine foraging as they've done for millions of
years. We feed hummers strictly for our own amusement, so it
behooves us to feed them responsibly.

Sheldon wrote:
William Wagner wrote:

If you have one humming bird feed you have one hummingbird. If you
have two humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird. If you have
three humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird if they are in sight
of each other. So place your feeds about your house not in sight of
each other that way one little beast can't protect it and you may have
many hummers .


I keep reading such presented as fact but in my experience I've not
found that to be true. I put out two feeders about two feet apart,
each with four stations, and have counted as many as six hummers all
feeding at once, and with others perched on a wire fence mere inches
away or hovering within a few feet.


http://www.hummzinger.biz/humzinger.htm


I won't buy feeders with a plastic food container, plastic becomes
etched and breeds bacteria. I use only glass, scrubbed once a week
with salt and soaked over night in a 4 to 1 water and white vinegar
solution... never use soap. It's really not necessary to feed
hummers, they do fine foraging as they've done for millions of
years. We feed hummers strictly for our own amusement, so it
behooves us to feed them responsibly.

Thank you all for the advice. I wanted a really pretty one because I
was hoping to photograph some, and I didn't like those ugly plastic
ones. I bought an expensive blown glass one, and will try to keep it
sanitary as you suggested. I really ought to have a spare that matches
in case all or part of it breaks, but I don't dare :-). Even the
"flower" inserts are glass. Plus like a bunch of other pretty garden
things I have, there is the worry that someone will steal it. Sometimes
you just have to take the risk.

I was planning on hanging it on a shepherd's hook amidst the flowers or
might suspend it from a tree branch on the east side of the house so I
can watch for them out the window. So I'll probably end up with two
anyway, but one will have to suffice for now.

I've been wanting one for a few years now but wasn't sure I could
attract any until we spotted that pair that evening.

I won't say which one I chose (went with my newly painted house well);
they are all pretty expensive.

http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/blo...rd_feeders.asp

I've always wanted to try to attract goldfinches, too, so that is next
but I was worried about thistle seed spilling out. I let a volunteer
thistle grow one year so I could watch it (Sottish national flower) and
took many photos of it for practice mostly, one with a Monarch
butterfly. I tried not to let too many seed pods explode, but was busy
with other things. The next year quite a few thistles all over the
yard. I got them all dug out and under control, so don't think I'll do
that again.

One year I put out pumpkin seeds for the birds, and one seeded itself on
the side of the stoop where I feed them, took and grew to be a huge vine
in my front yard which I let it be just for that year, annuals anyway,
but I wondered what a watermelon there might do :-). It produced three
beautiful pumpkins, we just mowed around it, and it kept the grass
underneath from coming through IIRC. No, that's not how it was at all.
I had a pumpkin for my kids on Halloween, and it fell off and
decomposed or something. I put squash seeds out whenever I cook those
and never gotten any squash plants there.

If the feeder gets residue, I will give it the vinegar treatment.
Otherwise, why can't I just soak it in bleach and rinse it out very well?

Is refined sugar good for hummers? I was inclined to buy the nectar.

Oh one of my long ones again, but while we're on the subject, I was a
gourmet feeder for my birds. One pile for the carnivores, one pile for
the other birds, roasted unsalted peanuts for the squirrels, a bag of
nuts for the winter (oh how they loved to get an English walnut, but
they aren't too picky, I did have to ration those). I even cracked open
the Brazil nuts because I thought the shells would be hard on their
teeth, but black walnuts all around here must be just as bad.

Anyway, I bought bags and bags of extra large striped sunflower seeds
because the kernel is bigger, and the squirrels love them. Now after so
many years of that, I have read that the shells poison the ground where
I'd like to plant something nice now. So I switched to shell free mix
which is more expensive and wish I could go back to the other. I was
told not to plant this or that there, scattered some wildflower seeds as
a test, they came up but were filled with crabgrass and were a mess.
Then my son sprayed them (thought they were weeds, not because of the
crabgrass, forgot to tell him I was trying to grow wildflowers there,
kind of spindly) so I don't know if they would have done anything or
not. How long does it take for the ground to cleanse itself from
sunflower seed toxins? I had shells all over the front steps which
accumulated over the years and swept them off from time to time onto, of
course, the ground around them. I planted sweet peas, and they did ok,
but I didn't have anything for them to climb high enough and it's super
dry there, needs to be watered constantly. So now I have large clay
pots with flowers in them (a neighbor had to move in a hurry and left
them behind full of whatever had been in them the previous year, said I
could take them), and I emptied them out and scrubbed them. I had to
water them a lot, too, as it turned out, but they looked nicer to me.

In article ,
Hettie(R) wrote:

Sheldon wrote:
William Wagner wrote:

If you have one humming bird feed you have one hummingbird. If you
have two humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird. If you have
three humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird if they are in sight
of each other. So place your feeds about your house not in sight of
each other that way one little beast can't protect it and you may have
many hummers .


I keep reading such presented as fact but in my experience I've not
found that to be true. I put out two feeders about two feet apart,
each with four stations, and have counted as many as six hummers all
feeding at once, and with others perched on a wire fence mere inches
away or hovering within a few feet.


http://www.hummzinger.biz/humzinger.htm


I won't buy feeders with a plastic food container, plastic becomes
etched and breeds bacteria. I use only glass, scrubbed once a week
with salt and soaked over night in a 4 to 1 water and white vinegar
solution... never use soap. It's really not necessary to feed
hummers, they do fine foraging as they've done for millions of
years. We feed hummers strictly for our own amusement, so it
behooves us to feed them responsibly.

Thank you all for the advice. I wanted a really pretty one because I
was hoping to photograph some, and I didn't like those ugly plastic
ones. I bought an expensive blown glass one, and will try to keep it
sanitary as you suggested. I really ought to have a spare that matches
in case all or part of it breaks, but I don't dare :-). Even the
"flower" inserts are glass. Plus like a bunch of other pretty garden
things I have, there is the worry that someone will steal it. Sometimes
you just have to take the risk.

I was planning on hanging it on a shepherd's hook amidst the flowers or
might suspend it from a tree branch on the east side of the house so I
can watch for them out the window. So I'll probably end up with two
anyway, but one will have to suffice for now.

I've been wanting one for a few years now but wasn't sure I could
attract any until we spotted that pair that evening.

I won't say which one I chose (went with my newly painted house well);
they are all pretty expensive.

http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/blo...rd_feeders.asp

I've always wanted to try to attract goldfinches, too, so that is next
but I was worried about thistle seed spilling out. I let a volunteer
thistle grow one year so I could watch it (Sottish national flower) and
took many photos of it for practice mostly, one with a Monarch
butterfly. I tried not to let too many seed pods explode, but was busy
with other things. The next year quite a few thistles all over the
yard. I got them all dug out and under control, so don't think I'll do
that again.

One year I put out pumpkin seeds for the birds, and one seeded itself on
the side of the stoop where I feed them, took and grew to be a huge vine
in my front yard which I let it be just for that year, annuals anyway,
but I wondered what a watermelon there might do :-). It produced three
beautiful pumpkins, we just mowed around it, and it kept the grass
underneath from coming through IIRC. No, that's not how it was at all.
I had a pumpkin for my kids on Halloween, and it fell off and
decomposed or something. I put squash seeds out whenever I cook those
and never gotten any squash plants there.

If the feeder gets residue, I will give it the vinegar treatment.
Otherwise, why can't I just soak it in bleach and rinse it out very well?

Is refined sugar good for hummers? I was inclined to buy the nectar.

Oh one of my long ones again, but while we're on the subject, I was a
gourmet feeder for my birds. One pile for the carnivores, one pile for
the other birds, roasted unsalted peanuts for the squirrels, a bag of
nuts for the winter (oh how they loved to get an English walnut, but
they aren't too picky, I did have to ration those). I even cracked open
the Brazil nuts because I thought the shells would be hard on their
teeth, but black walnuts all around here must be just as bad.

Anyway, I bought bags and bags of extra large striped sunflower seeds
because the kernel is bigger, and the squirrels love them. Now after so
many years of that, I have read that the shells poison the ground where
I'd like to plant something nice now. So I switched to shell free mix
which is more expensive and wish I could go back to the other. I was
told not to plant this or that there, scattered some wildflower seeds as
a test, they came up but were filled with crabgrass and were a mess.
Then my son sprayed them (thought they were weeds, not because of the
crabgrass, forgot to tell him I was trying to grow wildflowers there,
kind of spindly) so I don't know if they would have done anything or
not. How long does it take for the ground to cleanse itself from
sunflower seed toxins? I had shells all over the front steps which
accumulated over the years and swept them off from time to time onto, of
course, the ground around them. I planted sweet peas, and they did ok,
but I didn't have anything for them to climb high enough and it's super
dry there, needs to be watered constantly. So now I have large clay
pots with flowers in them (a neighbor had to move in a hurry and left
them behind full of whatever had been in them the previous year, said I
could take them), and I emptied them out and scrubbed them. I had to
water them a lot, too, as it turned out, but they looked nicer to me.



Buy this book or at least read the reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/Ruby-Throated-...rgent/dp/08117
26886/ref=sr_1_1/104-5007476-8190325?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194707176&sr=1-
1

or

http://preview.tinyurl.com/28ne64

Bill

--

S Jersey USA Zone 5 Shade
http://www.ocutech.com/ High tech Vison aid

Hettie® wrote:


Sheldon wrote:
William Wagner wrote:

If you have one humming bird feed you have one hummingbird. If you
have two humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird. If you have
three humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird if they are in sight
of each other. So place your feeds about your house not in sight of
each other that way one little beast can't protect it and you may have
many hummers .


I keep reading such presented as fact but in my experience I've not
found that to be true. I put out two feeders about two feet apart,
each with four stations, and have counted as many as six hummers all
feeding at once, and with others perched on a wire fence mere inches
away or hovering within a few feet.


http://www.hummzinger.biz/humzinger.htm


I won't buy feeders with a plastic food container, plastic becomes
etched and breeds bacteria. I use only glass, scrubbed once a week
with salt and soaked over night in a 4 to 1 water and white vinegar
solution... never use soap. It's really not necessary to feed
hummers, they do fine foraging as they've done for millions of
years. We feed hummers strictly for our own amusement, so it
behooves us to feed them responsibly.

Thank you all for the advice. I wanted a really pretty one because I
was hoping to photograph some, and I didn't like those ugly plastic
ones. I bought an expensive blown glass one, and will try to keep it
sanitary as you suggested. I really ought to have a spare that matches
in case all or part of it breaks, but I don't dare :-). Even the
"flower" inserts are glass. Plus like a bunch of other pretty garden
things I have, there is the worry that someone will steal it. Sometimes
you just have to take the risk.

I was planning on hanging it on a shepherd's hook amidst the flowers or
might suspend it from a tree branch on the east side of the house so I
can watch for them out the window. So I'll probably end up with two
anyway, but one will have to suffice for now.

I've been wanting one for a few years now but wasn't sure I could
attract any until we spotted that pair that evening.

I won't say which one I chose (went with my newly painted house well);
they are all pretty expensive.

http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/blo...rd_feeders.asp

I've always wanted to try to attract goldfinches, too, so that is next
but I was worried about thistle seed spilling out. I let a volunteer
thistle grow one year so I could watch it (Sottish national flower) and
took many photos of it for practice mostly, one with a Monarch
butterfly. I tried not to let too many seed pods explode, but was busy
with other things. The next year quite a few thistles all over the
yard. I got them all dug out and under control, so don't think I'll do
that again.

One year I put out pumpkin seeds for the birds, and one seeded itself on
the side of the stoop where I feed them, took and grew to be a huge vine
in my front yard which I let it be just for that year, annuals anyway,
but I wondered what a watermelon there might do :-). It produced three
beautiful pumpkins, we just mowed around it, and it kept the grass
underneath from coming through IIRC. No, that's not how it was at all.
I had a pumpkin for my kids on Halloween, and it fell off and
decomposed or something. I put squash seeds out whenever I cook those
and never gotten any squash plants there.

If the feeder gets residue, I will give it the vinegar treatment.
Otherwise, why can't I just soak it in bleach and rinse it out very well?

Is refined sugar good for hummers? I was inclined to buy the nectar.

Oh one of my long ones again, but while we're on the subject, I was a
gourmet feeder for my birds. One pile for the carnivores, one pile for
the other birds, roasted unsalted peanuts for the squirrels, a bag of
nuts for the winter (oh how they loved to get an English walnut, but
they aren't too picky, I did have to ration those). I even cracked open
the Brazil nuts because I thought the shells would be hard on their
teeth, but black walnuts all around here must be just as bad.

Anyway, I bought bags and bags of extra large striped sunflower seeds
because the kernel is bigger, and the squirrels love them. Now after so
many years of that, I have read that the shells poison the ground where
I'd like to plant something nice now. So I switched to shell free mix
which is more expensive and wish I could go back to the other. I was
told not to plant this or that there, scattered some wildflower seeds as
a test, they came up but were filled with crabgrass and were a mess.
Then my son sprayed them (thought they were weeds, not because of the
crabgrass, forgot to tell him I was trying to grow wildflowers there,
kind of spindly) so I don't know if they would have done anything or
not. How long does it take for the ground to cleanse itself from
sunflower seed toxins? I had shells all over the front steps which
accumulated over the years and swept them off from time to time onto, of
course, the ground around them. I planted sweet peas, and they did ok,
but I didn't have anything for them to climb high enough and it's super
dry there, needs to be watered constantly. So now I have large clay
pots with flowers in them (a neighbor had to move in a hurry and left
them behind full of whatever had been in them the previous year, said I
could take them), and I emptied them out and scrubbed them. I had to
water them a lot, too, as it turned out, but they looked nicer to me.



You'll find answers to a lot of your questions in rec.birds and
specifically to your questions about hummingbirds at
http://www.hummingbirds.net/, created and maintained by Lanny Chambers,
who is a frequent contributor to rec.birds. There's lots of information
about choosing and maintaining hummingbird feeders (plus a migration
chart every Spring).

I've tried blown glass hummingbird feeders a few times but have found
them to be useless; as soon as they warm up the liquid expands and they
start to leak, since the feeder tips face downward. I've ended up
embedding them in the ground, "business end" down, and pretending
they're decorative glass globes. I imagine you'll want to try yours
anyway; above all don't put it where the sun will shine on it, as that
will make the expansion and leakage much worse.

You might find black oil sunflower seeds are easier for the birds to
handle than the striped. I'm not sure how poisonous they would be to
plants underneath.

The thistle seeds used for birds are heat treated so they won't germinate.

HTH

helco

helco wrote:
Hettie® wrote:



Sheldon wrote:

William Wagner wrote:

If you have one humming bird feed you have one hummingbird. If you
have two humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird. If you have
three humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird if they are in
sight
of each other. So place your feeds about your house not in sight of
each other that way one little beast can't protect it and you may have
many hummers .



I keep reading such presented as fact but in my experience I've not
found that to be true. I put out two feeders about two feet apart,
each with four stations, and have counted as many as six hummers all
feeding at once, and with others perched on a wire fence mere inches
away or hovering within a few feet.


http://www.hummzinger.biz/humzinger.htm



I won't buy feeders with a plastic food container, plastic becomes
etched and breeds bacteria. I use only glass, scrubbed once a week
with salt and soaked over night in a 4 to 1 water and white vinegar
solution... never use soap. It's really not necessary to feed
hummers, they do fine foraging as they've done for millions of
years. We feed hummers strictly for our own amusement, so it
behooves us to feed them responsibly.


Thank you all for the advice. I wanted a really pretty one because I
was hoping to photograph some, and I didn't like those ugly plastic
ones. I bought an expensive blown glass one, and will try to keep it
sanitary as you suggested. I really ought to have a spare that
matches in case all or part of it breaks, but I don't dare :-). Even
the "flower" inserts are glass. Plus like a bunch of other pretty
garden things I have, there is the worry that someone will steal it.
Sometimes you just have to take the risk.

I was planning on hanging it on a shepherd's hook amidst the flowers
or might suspend it from a tree branch on the east side of the house
so I can watch for them out the window. So I'll probably end up with
two anyway, but one will have to suffice for now.

I've been wanting one for a few years now but wasn't sure I could
attract any until we spotted that pair that evening.

I won't say which one I chose (went with my newly painted house well);
they are all pretty expensive.

http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/blo...rd_feeders.asp

I've always wanted to try to attract goldfinches, too, so that is next
but I was worried about thistle seed spilling out. I let a volunteer
thistle grow one year so I could watch it (Sottish national flower)
and took many photos of it for practice mostly, one with a Monarch
butterfly. I tried not to let too many seed pods explode, but was
busy with other things. The next year quite a few thistles all over
the yard. I got them all dug out and under control, so don't think
I'll do that again.

One year I put out pumpkin seeds for the birds, and one seeded itself
on the side of the stoop where I feed them, took and grew to be a huge
vine in my front yard which I let it be just for that year, annuals
anyway, but I wondered what a watermelon there might do :-). It
produced three beautiful pumpkins, we just mowed around it, and it
kept the grass underneath from coming through IIRC. No, that's not
how it was at all. I had a pumpkin for my kids on Halloween, and it
fell off and decomposed or something. I put squash seeds out whenever
I cook those and never gotten any squash plants there.

If the feeder gets residue, I will give it the vinegar treatment.
Otherwise, why can't I just soak it in bleach and rinse it out very well?

Is refined sugar good for hummers? I was inclined to buy the nectar.

Oh one of my long ones again, but while we're on the subject, I was a
gourmet feeder for my birds. One pile for the carnivores, one pile
for the other birds, roasted unsalted peanuts for the squirrels, a bag
of nuts for the winter (oh how they loved to get an English walnut,
but they aren't too picky, I did have to ration those). I even
cracked open the Brazil nuts because I thought the shells would be
hard on their teeth, but black walnuts all around here must be just as
bad.

Anyway, I bought bags and bags of extra large striped sunflower seeds
because the kernel is bigger, and the squirrels love them. Now after
so many years of that, I have read that the shells poison the ground
where I'd like to plant something nice now. So I switched to shell
free mix which is more expensive and wish I could go back to the
other. I was told not to plant this or that there, scattered some
wildflower seeds as a test, they came up but were filled with
crabgrass and were a mess. Then my son sprayed them (thought they were
weeds, not because of the crabgrass, forgot to tell him I was trying
to grow wildflowers there, kind of spindly) so I don't know if they
would have done anything or not. How long does it take for the ground
to cleanse itself from sunflower seed toxins? I had shells all over
the front steps which accumulated over the years and swept them off
from time to time onto, of course, the ground around them. I planted
sweet peas, and they did ok, but I didn't have anything for them to
climb high enough and it's super dry there, needs to be watered
constantly. So now I have large clay pots with flowers in them (a
neighbor had to move in a hurry and left them behind full of whatever
had been in them the previous year, said I could take them), and I
emptied them out and scrubbed them. I had to water them a lot, too,
as it turned out, but they looked nicer to me.



You'll find answers to a lot of your questions in rec.birds and
specifically to your questions about hummingbirds at
http://www.hummingbirds.net/, created and maintained by Lanny Chambers,
who is a frequent contributor to rec.birds. There's lots of information
about choosing and maintaining hummingbird feeders (plus a migration
chart every Spring).

ok, thank you.


I've tried blown glass hummingbird feeders a few times but have found
them to be useless; as soon as they warm up the liquid expands and they
start to leak, since the feeder tips face downward. I've ended up
embedding them in the ground, "business end" down, and pretending
they're decorative glass globes. I imagine you'll want to try yours
anyway; above all don't put it where the sun will shine on it, as that
will make the expansion and leakage much worse.

This feeder doesn't tip face downward, it's model BIR-12230 at the link
I posted. Maybe best not to fill it to capacity and keep it in part sun
anyway, I haven't decided where to put it yet, will have to be where
there won't be something ugly or distracting in my photos, assuming I
get any.


You might find black oil sunflower seeds are easier for the birds to
handle than the striped. I'm not sure how poisonous they would be to
plants underneath.

Yes, for the birds, and I don't know if they are as toxic as the
striped. At least they are smaller which means less volume of toxicity.
I think the jury is out as to just exactly what does what to what.
Crazy morning, phone company guy, timer going off for my cereal.


The thistle seeds used for birds are heat treated so they won't germinate.

Well, that is good to know. Now to find a pretty and functional one.
But not now as I've spent pretty much my limit for this season.

Thank you.


HTH

helco