You're not seeing other birds already?

Weirdly, no. I see the occasional chickadee in a neighbor's magnolia and other than that it's crows. I shoo them off the roof whenever I hear them hopping around but they usually just fly to a neighbor's house and glare at me.

PacNorWreck, Do you leave seed heads on your plants? I am not a very tidy gardener - lol - but have always left seed heads on almost all my plants and have many varieties of birds that live in my trees and the neighbors. I have a hummingbird feeder that hosts about 6 different Anna's but of course not at the same time. We found that the shy Stellar Jays will come right up on the deck for stale bread and don't leave any for rodents. We also have several returning little birds - think they might be chickadees that find spaces in the pots on the deck to make their nests. There are owls and we hear and see them in the day and hear them at night. We no longer have a dog and the cats in the neighborhood seem to just use our property for access to the other neighbors. Do you have pets that roam freely?

I also put out small bunches of lint from the dryer filter here and there on branches and in planters and it disappears and then can be found as padding in the nests. Many of the nests are quite low - 1 - 2 ft from the ground - and the birds seem to know that they are safe. They are particularly fond of the herb planters and once they start the nests we stop watering the plants so we don't disturb them. Good for the birds, bad for the rosemary and thyme! lol We don't use insecticides - garden has a great - bad bug vs good bug - ratio so we don't need them. Late summer the nasturtiums get aphids and after using water spray for a month or so, we know it is time to pull them out. Good luck getting them to come into your garden.

Over here in Kitsap there are birds aplenty! But also a lot of natural, wild areas which would be appealing to them. Crows of course, but also eagles, hawks and lots small song bird types - chickadees, sparrows, goldfinch and other finches. Jays and sapsuckers occasionally, robins and of course the Anna's, which I feed year round. Every so often, a flock of starlings fly in, stalk the lawn for a few minutes, then fly off. And I used to see bats when I lived on the beach!!

Other than the Anna's, I don't put out feeders as there is also too much other wildlife that would find them appealing!

My sister has an owl that resides on her very wooded property and although I have heard them, I have never seen one.

I do leave seedheads on coneflowers and agastache. It could just be that my garden is sufficiently new - I only moved in during the summer of 2015 - that not enough birds have discovered what's available and / or the plants haven't grown and filled in enough to present a sizeable meal. I did notice some swallows and chickadees the past few weeks, and I'm hoping that as my Stewartia grows and matures that eventually some friendly birds will take up residence.

I've got a hummingbird feeder but it's in a fairly low, shady spot and I think I may have to move it to the roof where it can catch the sun all day to actually attract some hummingbirds. I took some fuchsia cuttings at the end of last season and may add one to the roof to add some natural forage for the hummingbirds as well.

I see many small birds scratching on the surface of the soil under and
around the tall sedums in the fall and during the winter. Sometimes there will
be a small flock of 10 or so at a time. Maybe it is the small seeds that are
attracting them? Our hummingbird feeder is on the deck in full sun - or as full
as it can get in Seattle! lol We don't use red food coloring and it does
take a while for them to find it and declare it as their territory. Hummers are
really amusing critters and when we take the feeder in to clean and fill it
they will hover at the window, looking in to see what we are doing with their
juice. Within minutes of our putting it back on the stand, there they are
drinking like crazy.

Not to sound like a ditzy bird lady, but I can call them with a tsk tsk
sound and one or more will come about 5 feet from me and look me straight in
the eye. It helps if I have a red shirt on. Here are a couple of shots that I
took from just a few feet. First one obviously summer.

I always wear a red hat when hiking the sub-alpine areas of the Olympics in the summer. I don't hike as much as I used to. Old age and other priorities, I guess. There's always work to do in the garden. At least it's fun work.

I've been hearing owls more frequently lately. One kind has a much higher pitch than the common Barred owl. No feeders, but plenty of birds. The only time I see crows down low is when they're hunting young nesting birds in the forest.

Shirley, as always, your photos are stunning!!

Barred Owl has quite a variety of calls, there are web sites where a body can play samples of these and other owls calling if speakers are hooked up. Otherwise in addition to this species what I hear and see repeatedly in the wooded lowlands are Great Horned Owl and Screech Owl. The latter makes a sound something like a rusty gate being opened (or other familiar noise I can't name) followed by quiet hooting. I heard the gate being opened for decades before I finally heard the hooting afterward, realized what bird was doing it.

I've also seen a Spotted Owl once on Camano but if I've ever heard one of these I've never made the connection. I came upon it while walking dogs, it was after a Douglas Squirrel and had been drawn near the walking route (and down comparatively low) by that.

The front of it looked like a strawberry, removing all possible doubt as to identification.

We have a Barred Owl in the neighborhood (Sammamish), cool to see at times, but annoying to hear it's mating call when sleeping at 3am. Our yard is mostly attracting ground feeders like Junkos, due to the many big maple, fir and hemlock trees. The odd sapsucker also comes by but they can be a pain, often pecking holes in a house. The best way to attract birds without getting rodents is with a suet feeder. The birds love it, but it won't drop anything to the ground, and feeders are made to allow birds in and keep squirrels out.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/images/Categoryimages/normal/p-87624-FS95720RS_046.jpg

Unfortunately, raccoons are too crafty for suet feeders - ripped it off the tree it was hanging from, tore apart the wire holder and gobbled all the goodies out. The wire holder was bent beyond repair and had to be tossed out..........I didn't replace it :-)

The only feeders I put out now are for the hummingbirds. Although other birds will try and get to the nectar, their beaks are too fat to fit in the little holes. But it's pretty entertaining to watch a Stellar's jay hanging on to a feeder for dear life trying to get at the nectar solution!

I know that in my little neighbor hood, the house with the feeder up first seemed to get most of the hummers. Once they pick a spot, they seem to return each year as long the feeders were still offered.