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The Beauty of Attracting Strangers

Most of us who feed birds have a group of regulars that visit our backyard. Depending on where you live, this list likely includes cardinals, several finches and sparrows, a nuthatch or two, chickadees and titmice, doves, a few hummingbirds and a variety of woodpeckers. But what about others?

Chances are that you have more species around than you realize. Almost every neighborhood has diverse habitats nearby, such as a stand of trees, a bunch of shrubs, a patch of old field or combinations thereof. And these islands of green (like your own bird-friendly yard) can be magnets for a number of species...