Molie: I would suggest a Great Blue Heron, perhaps a juvenile, for the darker bird. These are photos I took in August of a rather mangy looking Great Blue Heron preening in Ellisville Marsh. The dark crown is visible. Check out All About Birds - scroll down to the Field Marks section and then click on the arrow to see more photos. About five photos in is a juvenile. Claire Edit note: One thing that bothers me about the Black-crowned Night-Heron ID is the fact that they mostly hang around at night. According to All About Birds: "Black-crowned Night-Herons are common in wetlands across North America - you just may have to look a little harder than you do for most herons. True to their name, these birds do most of their feeding at night and spend much of the day hunched among leaves and branches at the water’s edge. Evening and dusk are good times to look for these rather stout, short-necked herons flying out to foraging grounds." This post was edited by claire on Thu, Sep 18, 14 at 15:06

Pat, the only adjustments I've made over the years is switching to safflower seed for a few summer months when the sparrow fledglings out number the dandelions. Otherwise, I use a good blend, very light on millet, for the rest of the year and buy suet by the case in the fall when it goes on sale at Agway. I have just the one seed feeder, one suet cage and one hummer feeder. What I did do was plant extensively with native plants that attract everybody. Plus, we live in a somewhat wooded area. Feeding birds is all about me. They will continue on long after I'm gone. They are my entertainment as I photograph them mostly through my office windows. What I have learned even more so from observing them is that NONE of this is my design. Mother Nature never consulted Jane and we all know she doesn't give a tinker's dam what I think. So whoever, whatever, comes because I put food out, is all on me. If a hawk steals a mourning dove in my yard, I feel bad for the dove, good for the hawk. He will live another day. Many hawks do not reach maturity due to starvation. I've learned that birds do not have the greed gene. They take what they can eat, store what they can if that is their habit - like BC Chickadees - but nothing goes to waste. When the birds fool around on the feeder and seed goes to the ground, the chipmunks, et al, eat well. I have a wonderful neighbor who buys only shelled sunflower seeds, pricey stuff, and uses a feeder that is weight balanced to exclude blue jays, grackles and all the guys she doesn't want to feed. She likes little birds. She won't even look up when I say, "Oh, look! A red tail hawk!". She can't stand hawks. But she is a great, kind woman who gives and gives of herself - just not to big birds.But she too feeds all year long and is concerned when her regulars disappear. Long answer here, but yes, I keep the same feeders year round filled and have a ton of birds that are happy and fight among themselves - just the way Mother Nature designed it. Any bird here is okay by me. Pat, I say do what makes you feel good in your birding area because, to me, it's all about us watching them; not them depending on us. (I know that is a debatable subject in the current ranks of ornithology, but that's not where I am.) Life is easier if I don't hate anything. I have to work on the sn*ke thing, lol, that's fear. Maybe a trip to New Hampshire would help. :) Birds pay me back ten fold just for being themselves. This little guy is worth all the sugar I can give him: Link to Buddy being Buddy - - - Buddy Jane

Hi, Pat, Here is what I own and use: The Crossley Guides are really desk guides because they are so big and heavy. I like Sibley as a field guide, even though I rarely take it outside. Over the years as a bird watcher and photographer, with technology changing from film to digital, my pattern of inquiry has changed. Now, I shoot (with my camera) everything in sight and ask questions later. That way I don't have to carry a book. I like the Sibley. I bought the Crossley guides because I wanted a guide specifically for raptors and got a $ break on Amazon for buying both guides together. Crossley Sibley The layout and info given in the Sibley appealed to me more than the other guides when I was searching for a new one. My first guide is an Audubon, copyright 1977. Jane (My best canine buddy was half Samoyed, half Malamute named Holly. God, I loved that dog!)

Hummers here are bulking up. Lots of long drinks and lots of chasing quite often. I think there are a steady 5 at the feeder. 2 males, 3 females. All started with Buddy. Speaking of perpetuating the species, this guy must be in pain. Heavy, painful molting all over and the kid still wants to be fed. May want to rethink that 'go forth and multiply' thing a bit more in the future, lol. I think this monarch's wings look like they are aged and thinning. The topside could look like pollen or dust, but then I cropped another shot and you can see there are 'cracks' or wear in her wings visible from the underside. The next group born is the one that goes to Mexico - so I think. same shot closely cropped below https://www.monarch-butterfly.com/life-span.html Jane