Flight of Fancy

For Christmas the hubby gave me a bird bath to accompany my bird feeder. It has been a huge hit with the birds since I have to fill it with water about every other day right now. Well today I put some old peanuts I had out on the patio as another treat. We had birds from all over come to the house. It was a non-stop bird fest. We even got two blue jays and two different woodpeckers come. I was able to cross off about four new types of birds off my bird book from today alone. The woodpecker was my favorite though because I have heard him for a long time in a nearby tree and wondered how to get him to come to my backyard.
The downside to all of this is that I want more feeders, baths and bushes now to make my yard even better for the birds. (I could also use a faster digital camera to take pictures of all the cool birds.) Our backyard is fenced off such that no cats or prey can get in, so anything I can do to attract them won't be creating a trap. I will say though that I refuse to set up feeding trays with bugs on them. They can get those from my yard in exchange for the other food and water. They have to earn it somehow. I hope this will also make it pretty mosquito free this summer so we can enjoy the patio furniture and bird watching outside.