Since this has been such a spectacular season for forsythia, I thought I'd mention that my bird feeding area is flanked on both sides by large forsythia bushes. In every season, the feeder birds find shelter there between feedings, and when danger threatens. Right now the bushes are beautiful AND full of birds, and my FOY Chipping Sparrow just popped out of one for a few minutes of pecking at the seed on the ground. One of my bushes is ancient and huge, and requires twice-a-year pruning (not to confine its shape, just its size), but the other is only a few years old, an off-shoot of the older one, and is a usual staging area for sparrows and juncos etc. on their way to the feeder. A cheap, simple landscaping plant! I recommend it. (Also, in cold winters, birds seem to eat the buds, and in those years, my forsythia blooms in October!)
Nancy Dickinson Mecklenburg -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --