A colony of sparrows is populating the community housing unit atop a flagpole above our back deck.
They’ve got it pretty good back there, with plenty of available food (we provide) and loads of handy nesting materials.
This unit has 10 apartments and as near as I can tell all are occupied.
Yesterday, in an effort to persuade the local goldfinches to drop by I put up a tube finch feeder filled with nyjer seeds.
Hopefully in the coming weeks we’ll see goldfinches and other finches too around the front of the house. I’ve put this feeder up front so the finches don’t have to compete with the sparrows, which love it out back.
I added a second feeder out back too. This time I tried a squirrel-proof feeder (sorry guys). If too much weight sits on any of the perches, the food slides out of reach. Very clever. This feeder has U-shaped perches, which are comfortable for the cardinals in the crowd.
27th Street 
Ah, the birdfeeders are multiplying–I swear they’re addictive 😉 Congratulations on getting tenants! My birdhouse has always been vacant. Every once in a while a bird while take a tour but none ever wants to move in.
I noticed the new community housing back by are woodsy patch has tenants now too. It’s an all sparrow community. We had a nuthatch visit this morning and yesterday I saw a couple very tiny finches.
Hope there are no cats in the hood! Your spring will be filled with lovely song and the offspring will then take over–every year they will come back! Have fun bird watching!
The local cats and birds coexist in an uneasy and sometimes bloody balance. The red-wing blackbirds provide a cat early warning system in the summer, and they’ve been known to dive-bomb cats as well. Down at the lake the ducks and geese and swans face another enemy as well – coyotes. Last year someone posted a photo of a coyote chowing down on a Canada Goose in Sam Smith Park.