A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a new sunflower seed I bought for our bird feeders. It looks like the larger striped sunflower seeds, but is the size of black oil seeds. It cost me about 10 percent less than black oil. The birds seem to notice no difference and/or care not. I'm filling our feeders at the usual intervals. It now will be my standard seed.

Bird problem: This spring I watched a pair of crows build their nest in a neighbors tall spruce tree. I thought it pretty cool to have crows nesting nearby. Crows are very good at hiding nests. I've never been able to watch an active nest before. So, the crows hatched their eggs and fledged their young. We have, I believe, the pair of adults and three youngsters. They own the neighborhood; they've taken charge. They sit in our large roofed wooden bird feeder and eat vast quantities of seed. They manage to perch on the small trays beneath our hanging feeders to do the same thing. Their appetite for suet was what motivated me to build a new suet feeder, which has proven to be crow-proof so far. Now I have to figure out a way to keep them from the seed. I wish they'd moved into someone else's neighborhood. They're no longer cool.