Something of the avian variety.

Once the excitement of the baby birds out front died down (well, I never stopped being excited - they just flew the coop), I focused my birding energy on the backyard. To refresh your memory, I bought my first bird feeder this spring -

It certainly made me feel like the most popular girl on the block, with sparrows and robins fighting for a spot on one of two small perches. I quickly learned birds are pigs (they deplete the feeder in 3 to 5 days!) and slobs (they throw crumbs ALL OVER the place), in addition to being brutes - they knocked one of the perches right off (and it fell into a mouse hole - eek!)! With a mangled, too-small feeder on my hands, I headed to Home Depot for a replacement. The goal? Get some color in my backyard! Love the sparrows, of course, but I wanted to attract the cardinals I see hanging around but are too big for the perches.

Bigger perches, new "attract other birds" seed.

I moved the gimpy feeder across the yard, so the sparrows wouldn't feel displaced. It's just as popular as ever over here. They manage the uni-perch.

I've only caught quickly glimpses of cardinals in the feeder, but over the weekend I caught, and managed to photograph, the holy grail of backyard bird feeders.... The male woodpecker!! So.... beautiful.

Bird is the mother-f-ing word.