Wow, I have so many photos that begin with the letter A...I'm having trouble restraining myself from posting way too many...but I'll start with only two.  I went on a "Wings" birding tour of Southeast Arizona in May of 2008, and saw many new birds, including these American Avocets:

...  But in the midst of all these horrors, I look around and constantly see good people doing good deeds for others and I still have much hope for our world. 
Anne in Toronto

I visited the Holocaust Museum quite a few years ago, and spent the rest of the day in a severe blue funk; it was unbelievably disturbing.  But to your point, there is one exhibit dedicated to the "heroes", the people that took incredible risks helping Jews escape, or hiding Jews in their houses, or otherwise risking their own well being to rebel against the "horrors".  That exhibit had the biggest emotional impact on me of all...from goose bumps to tears...I was in awe of their courage...and wondered if I would be brave enough in a similar situation...

It bothers me to think I could be complicit in some future persecution simply by turning my face away and failing to act, to protect my own skin.  That portion of the exhibit was a small thread of hope and goodness to hang onto.

I'm thinking an immature White-crowned Sparrow! When they are adults the 2 stripes on the head are black.

I also thought juvenile White-crowned Sparrow.

Nice photos...thanks!

I did not know these little guys migrated. But if Hummingbirds do, I suppose these can too. Is the same true of "your" Kinglets? As often occurs in Ireland, Northern birds (Scandinavia) head here for our milder winters. Pleased to see they are doing better this year. (A 20p piece [coin] is about the size of a quarter... maybe smaller.)

Yes, they migrate, but like yours, not necessarily to the neotropics like so many North American birds.  In fact Golden-crowned Kinglets can manage to scrape out a living in the winter in the Maine woods (Bernd Heinrich talks about this in his book Winter World).  We see Ruby-crowned Kinglets who visit us in Kentucky only in the winter.

Jeane and I got a nice photo of a Hooded Warbler a few years ago while hiking in the Smoky Mountains.  A fluttering fledgling came bounding toward us (hopping, not flying) up the trail...not being old enough to know better, and before we could shut our gaping mouths, mother Hooded Warbler flew up and did the "broken wing" routine to try and divert our attention from her fledgling.  We took a photo, then quietly vacated the area to minimize stress to both birds!

I'm registered for a crane festival (The Festival of the Cranes) in November in New Mexico.  I'm really looking forward to it, and hope I can get some good photos with my barely adequate camera.  I apologize to Bobbie in advance if I've triggered any paroxysms of envy.  When are you coming back to this continent, and could the Sandhills still be around the wildlife refuges near Rochester?

Aren't these lovely? Even in the autumn plumage, I think I might be able to ID one. And how amazing to know what a little appropriate "pishing" can do.

http://php.democratandchronicle.com/blog/birds/?p=3574

(Guess I am particularly fascinated by them because we have only one (1) Sparrow species here: House Sparrow - do you call them English Sparrows? Same critter. And maybe not a NA native?)

(Haha! Spell check acccepted "pishing".)

White-throated Sparrows are among the few bright spots of my Kentucky backyard in winter!  And yes, we have House Sparrows, and call them House Sparrows, and they're imports from England.  They're considered very damaging to native bird populations since they are now abundant, very aggressive, and out-compete our native cavity nesters (same story with European Starlings).  I understand that the population in Europe is decreasing rather drastically; I wish we could round them up and send them back to you!

We have gazillions of sparrow species, which frustrate me to no end, all being LBJs!

I thought you guys might enjoy this website:
http://www.musicofnature.org/home/

Patti - point taken and my dates are moving targets anyway   

As for the salvia, I meant that it didn't do too well in my soil/garden location.  4 non-annuals and only 2 remain and they are in rather poor condition (we did watch a mole take down one).  So, I'll keep trying a little of this (I have bought a number of plants in 2s and 3s and have only one remaining) and a little of that and see what survives.  I'm guessing that anything that survived this year is very hardy.

OK...I don't know about the other varieties, but I know the "Black and Blue" likes it dry...in fact the instructions say to let it dry out before watering.  The one in my garden has been happy in the drought this year; the other two I have in large pots on the deck, and I don't have to water them often.  Last year, when we had a cool, wet summer, they didn't do very well.

I didn't have as much luck with the salvia, but this was the first year for that colorful garden out front (yes, I will post the pictures sometime in this lifetime). 

I found that the "annual" salvia sold in most garden shops doesn't attract hummers, but other kinds are better.  The Black and Blue Salvia (Salvia guarantica) is the one my birds go gaga over:
http://www.rainyside.com/features/plant_gallery/perennials/Salvia_guaraniticaBlackAndBlue.html

We now have only one feeder out and the occasional traveler and we will bring that one in probably next weekend (lots of flowers still), so as not to encourage over-staying. 

Janet, I have read numerous experts who say that leaving feeders out will not encourage the hummers to stay too late; if they're hanging around late it's probably that they're not in the best of health, struggling, and your feeder may give them the boost they need.  The experts believe that feeders won't override the instinct to migrate; there's still plenty of natural food around (flowers), and that doesn't encourage them to hang around.  Around here the experts on my Ky Bird List (most of them employees of KY Fish & Wildlife) recommend leaving our feeders out until at least mid-October to give those last stragglers an extra chance.

Hanging fushia will attract them and they went loony-tunes over the coleus (spelling) that grows blue stalky flowers - up and down like an ear of corn!

Janet is giving you good advice...though my hummers focus largely on my feeder; I think it was/is the flowers that draws them in...and as you saw, it's more fun when I can get photos of them using the flowers.  I think maybe, especially during migration, that a big patch of flower garden is more visible and likely to draw them in, and then they may discover the flower.  I've had the best luck with lantana, pentas, and the most popular of all is a flower called black and blue salvia.  In my area it comes in a little later than most of the nursery flowers...I have to pick it up, usually from Lowes, at least 2-3 weeks after I've bought and planted my other flowers.

Also, migrating hummingbirds will continue to follow consistent routes (so I hear from the experts) and stop at the same locations along the way, so if you attract a migrant who's happy with your provisions, and he/she manages to survive the arduous migration both ways, you'll probably see that bird again, and in this way your population may slowly grow over the years...mine certainly has.  This was the first year I actually had a bird visiting from Derby Day all the way through summer; I'm assuming she was nesting in the neighborhood; in years past it was more typical to only see them during spring and fall migrations (with them being mostly absent during late May through most of June).  August is the best month for me, when I spot a hummingbird just about anytime I look out into the yard.

I have never seen a cuckoo in the States, but I assume there are some... perhaps a number of species?

Yes, we have three species in the states:
Black-billed Cuckoo
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Mangrove Cuckoo (only seen on the Southern Florida Coast)

They're not always easy to photograph because they tend to like dense, dark forests, but I managed to catch a photo of a Yellow-billed cuckoo a few years back about to dive into a tent caterpillar buffet.

Patti

Lots of photos...so if you use the thumbnail-oriented version, note that there are multiple pages of thumbnails.  Some of the photos might benefit from seeing them in higher resolution, so from thumbnail version you can click the big photo to expand it, and then make it even bigger from the choices at the top, I think.

Huge year for butterflies, and the hummingbirds weren't half bad!

Thumbnail version:  http://tinyurl.com/22o49ab

Slideshow version:  http://tinyurl.com/2b76ff6

Enjoy!

Patti