Garden Visitors

One of my garden goals this year was to encourage a greater variety of visitors to stop by.  The winged kind, that is.  I started early this year, putting out food that would entice them to stop by, once the word was out what they could dine on!  And I've not been disappointed.  Of course we've had robins and sparrows, :

the cardinal

and the starling, 

(Can that look be any more menacing??)

But new this year are the rose-breasted grosbeak,  

Isn't he beautiful?

the goldfinch,

And the downy woodpecker. 

I attribute the arrival of the newcomers to the suet and the premium sunflower seed we offer them. We've also purchased a bird book to help us identify which species are there.  For the longest time, I thought these little redheads were house finches, but it turns out some of them are purple finches (it's the shape of the tail). I've also realized that some that I labeled as sparrows (females) were actually pine siskin.  

"Hey guys, move over...make room for me!!"

And there's always the joy of watching them enjoy the birdbath. I'd love to get more pics of the water being tossed around. I've got all summer to capture that.

I hope you enjoyed this latest edition of "Adventures in Gardening."