re: The Birds

I think the key to seeing a wide variety of butterfly's is how you do your yard. We embrace every weed and dandelion  in the yard, so many of the neighbors act like they live in the burbs, and spray their yards with a ton of chemical, and by extension kill off all of the plants that all of the pollinators need to have, to do their thing. I know from years of experience of not spraying, that if you have a few acres, you can also have a huge safe zone for all the pollinators, which I would much rather see in my yard, than green grass, and no weeds. 

That Pileated comes in, he makes himself known, Monster bully bird, he takes what he wants, and even the Blue Jays who are usually the bullies back off when he's around. I've never seen her, but my Wife has a few times, his Female other, but unlike him, shes pretty blandish. While both have the red shock top, his is alive, and being Male he also has the red cheek patch, and hers is dark, plus he is pretty big, and she is smaller, at least compared to him. I imagine I will see them both some day. For some reason they have been around more than normal this year. My Wife always has a cake out for the peckers, both the Pileated, and the Red Bellies love that, while the Downies like a suet cake a lot more. I hate to think of what our bird food bill is. :-)