Ruth,

Your account of the switch from winter to summer birds was interesting to
compare to my own experience. I get so used to the winter birds that I
forget that some of them go away in the summer and feel disappointed
when it happens!

I had huge flocks of Evening Grosbeak for a little while this Spring, but
only a few are here now. The Black-headed Grosbeaks have replaced them
however, and the Band-tails and Doves are back, too, as are the Pine
Siskins and American Goldfinch.

On the advice of a person who shall remain nameless, I switched from
straigh Nyger in my finch feeders to a mixture with sunflower seed
kernels, and the finch have avoided them completely!! But they are
coming to the other feeders that have those same kernels in them, so I
guess they do like them, but just skip the finch feeders because they
are no longer "black."

The Golden-crowned and White-crowned sparrows that were here this spring
for several weeks seem to have moved on also. And there are fewer
Towhees and Song and Fox Sparrows than usual. I know the deer are
eating millet from my ground feeders at night, and I wonder if they are
leaving behind a scent or something that is discouraging the birds.

Darlene
Cinebar