Birds In The Yard

Ok, I am turning into the bird lady. I love to feed the cute birds (cardinals, quails, songbirds) but not the big gross pidgeons and crows. I lament that the quail burrow into the dirt and ate my vegetable starts -- but I was delighted to see my first 6 quail babies. I have not seen them since so....
I read that songbirds eavesdrop to survive, knowing the words that other birds use to warn for predators. Chickadees make one sound when a predator is spotted and another when it lands, calling an alarm to other birds to scare the offending predator off. They also listen to the alarm calls for other species. In our area, owls and hawks are the most common predators.
I know this is also true for finding food. When one bird sees that I have put out crumbs of whatever today's treat is, they yell it out to all the other types. Some run in, some fly in. And I love it all.

One Way To Get Rid of Clutter

I am trying to get rid of clutter and have given some stuff away to various places. But, I found a great way to get stuff gone -- and that is to mail it to someone else!
I mailed some pants that were too big and ready to give away to my cousin to try. I mailed some souvenirs from a recent trip to the National Civil Rights Museum to my brother-in-law to use in his 7th grade Social Studies classroom.
I like this trend -- though the cost of mailing is probably equal to the cost of driving to a charity drop-off these days, with the price of gas as it is. I paid the most ever for gas yesterday and was horrified.
I may focus on the charities that come by and pick up the stuff. I feel good getting started; much more to clear away. Spring cleaning is probably going to reach into summer cleaning.