I have a blue/gold macaw & a nanday conure that I wish would stay in the yard, but they demand to come in & be fed.
Spoiled birds!

The purpose of gardening isn't just a plant thing but to provide a habitat for all those little critter ;-)
Last year's Rose-breasted Crosbeak in the Jacksonville area

{{gwi:361335}}

I'm in Jacksonville too. (Thanks for the note about the garden club by the way!) How long did that pretty fellow stay around?

Today I've seen: purple finches, golden finches, indigo bunting, bluebird, red bellied woodpecker, sparrows, chickadees, cardinals, and the grosbeak. Thats a record for me. I usually only have finches and cardinals regularly. I've only seen the bluebird once before but today I hung a bluebird box and before I could make it back to the porch, he was checking it out.

Oh, and I disturbed a pair of lizards on the deck rail this morning....may have a new batch of babies soon???

I'm afraid I don't have any macaws to brag about :-(

Troyers: I've had all the birds you mentioned except I haven't seen the Rose Breasted Grosbeak this year yet. My sister lives just a mile or so from me and saw one last week. It's possible I just missed them this year. They don't usually stay around too long before migrating north to their breeding grounds.
I've got a pair of bluebirds feeding babies in one of my boxes, a pair of brown headed nuthatches already had one brood in one of my houses, and a black capped chickadee is feeding young in another house. Don't you just love watching all the birds? I have a pond and stream in my back garden that I can see from the back windows of my house, and the birds love to bathe in the stream. Somedays there will be several different species in it at once. Such a joy to watch. :)
Jan

I have 2 birdhouses in back and one in front. I've had a few birds check them out, but so far, I don't know if anyone is nesting yet. I have found 2 nexts on the ground, but I think they were leftovers from last year that were knocked out of the tree...no eggs around them at least.

Oh, I forgot to list my mourning doves..they're everywhere. I actually saw 3 of them at my birdbath today. Thats the first time I've seen it used by something besides the squirrels. My hummingbirds are missing though. I ahven't seen them for a day or two.

Heres my Grosbeak, although the photo isn't as good...

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:361334}}

there are eastern phoebes nesting on my carport.
they are interesting to watch as they fly down and hover over the grass and flower beds, picking off insects while on the wing.
also, i have seen a couple of blue grosbeaks near the feeders.
my favorites are probably the wood thrushes that i hear and rarely see among the trees around the house.
i spotted a summer tanager at the edge of the woods last year but not yet this season.

As regulars I have bluebirds (3 nest boxes - 1 currently occupied by 3 BB babies; the other 2 have chicadees with 5 eggs each), hummingbirds, gold finches, purple finches, cardinals, robins, pine siskins/warblers, carolina wrens, indigo bunting, nuthatches, titmouse, woodpeckers (downey, red-bellied), red-wing blackbirds, song sparrows, and a few others I can't remember. Some I don't see as often or only see as they are migrating: flickers, cedar waxwing, wood thrush (I think). I lose track when trying to remember them all. I have not seen a grosbeak though.
I'm always running to my bird book if I think I've spotted something unusual. And I totally agree with terramadre in looking at one aspect of gardening as providing a habitat for critters.

We have most of those mentioned above. My 5 y/o granddaughter stopped me as I came out othe greenhouse the other day and asked if I heard "that"? "What?", I asked. "Did you hear the pecking bird?", she asked. I looked at her, puzzled, then I heard a woodpecker tapping on a tree. "that!", she said.

For several weeks, a beautiful mockingbird has serenaded me in the yard. He trills and sings; he beeps and burps like a car alarm; he calls like a bob white quail. I have loved mockingbirds since I was a little boy. We slept with the windows open in the summer and I can remember listening to the mocks sining in the sunner moonlight. With two big water oaks in the front, several bird feeders and too many shrubs around the house, we have lots of birds.

I would love to have a mockingbird! I don't think I've ever seen one, but its hard to say if I've heard one! haha

Have 7 bluebird houses currently all occupied. 2 Owl houses so far no screech owls but I hear them in the woods along with my resident hoot owl family, the largest about 15 inches tall. Always have hawks sitting in the trees along the fields waiting for the mice and voles to show their nasty head. Have a wren currently sitting on 5 eggs in one of the small gourds I put in the little greenhouse for them over the winter. Lots of cardinals and every other song bird. Got a mockingbird nesting someplace. Yellowhammers in the field beside me. A covey of Bob White Quail I see in the woods behind me sometimes. Had a couple of Canada Geese in the pond awhile back. Also have a Kingfisher that hits the pond in the afternoon, have to chase off a great blue heron every couple of days and sometimes have a green heron at the pond and last but not least Charlie Chaplin The cockatiel that I bought my wife before we got married almost 17 years ago that is still talking away and whistlin Anchors Away I came back from 6 months at sea before I retired to listen to that!

Hey, at least Charlie is patriotic and giving you support! haha

I've got a wren building a nest in a begonia basket on my porch. I've been watching the pair all day!

I live in Piedmont on a quiet street.....got blue birds, mockingbirds, chickadees, carolina wrens, doves, downy woodpeckers, rosebreasted groosbeaks, house finches, owls and one notorious divebombing Coopers hawk......I seem to have at least one family of blue birds nesting in one of my two nest boxes...my neighbor has a pair too....oh and a couple of hummingbirds....

Paul

Paul,
Maybe you can answer a question. What zone is Jacksonville in? I always thought it was 7, but I read today that its 8. Which is correct?

In case you can't tell from my email address, my favorite is the catbird. Our neighbors have a small patch of woods with lots of underbrush which the catbirds love and they come to our suet feeder a lot. I always have at least one serenading me while I work in the garden. In fact, we have all three of the mime species -- mockingbirds, brown thrashers, and catbirds. For those who aren't familiar with these, none of the three has a set song pattern like other birds do. The mockingbird will sing a phrase 6 times, then sing a different phrase 6 times. A thrasher will sing each new phrase twice. A catbird does not repeat at all, but produces a lovely, lyrical, ever changing melody. They also have a call that sounds very much like the cry of a cat. Hence the name of the species.

i have cardinals, red headed woodpeckers, owls which i hear but seldom see, doves, mockingbirds, finches, titmouse (i think thats what it is), hummingbirds, blue jay and way too many squirrels!

Troyers......We're in zone 7.......

Here is a link that might be useful: Zone map

Is anyone having problems with starlings robbing the blue bird houses? I can't figure out how to scare those birds away. They eat all the food in the feeders, chase away the smaller birds and scare away my nesters.

Any advise would be helpful.

Thanks from a fellow Alabama Gardener in Huntsville AL