Today, I bought millet, sunflower chips, 25 pounds of safflower, petroleum jelly, and this:

Go ahead, cats. Make my day.

I’ve had it up to here with cats wandering up on my deck — the place where I feed birds — as if they owned the place.

They are welcome to cross the yard if they like. Technically, they are violating a city ordinance by wandering about loose, but I’m willing to cut them a little slack.

But the deck is a no-cat zone, and the cats don’t seem to be getting the message. It is becoming a daily thing — often more than once a day. I notice there aren’t any birds feeding. I take a closer look, and, sure enough, one of the cats is making itself at home.

I chase it off, clapping my hands. It leaves, but sooner or later it always comes back. Or another cat takes its place.

So I’m going to get more aggressive. I’m going to fill my squirt bottle — as soon as I can find it — with water and have it at the ready. If I can’t find the squirt bottle, I’ll buy a squirt gun the next time I go to the store. I will not harm a cat, but I will do whatever I can to make its visit to my deck unpleasant.

I mean, really.

On other topics:

• Jana in Proctor and others have mentioned seeing nighthawks recently. Apparently, a major migration swept through the Duluth area the other day. Karl Bardon and the other counters at Hawk Ridge reported seeing13,154 common nighthawks on Tuesday — the fourth-highest single-day count on record in Minnesota. I’m not even sure if I could count that high.
• I went for a walk on the Split Rock River Trail in Lake County today. I didn’t see much in the way of birds, but what I did see made it worthwhile: a pair of mourning warblers. This was worthwhile because they were "lifers" for me — the first mourning warblers I’ve seen, or at least the first I’ve put on my list. I wasn’t sure they were mourning warblers while I was on the trail, but after looking at more pictures online, I am sure. The colors matched perfectly, and the white eye ring confirmed it. (Actually, a walk on a beautiful day in August is worthwhile even if I don’t see ANY birds.)
• Thanks to Kathy and Andrew for your suggestions regarding what to do to keep bees out of the hummingbird feeders. Andrew, your suggestion may have been the most unique advice I’ve gotten on any topic so far with this blog.

My hummingbird picture prompted Lyle Anderson to share a few of the pictures he has taken of hummers recently.

"I have two hummingbird feeders in the backyard and it’s very easy to take pictures of hummers as they get used to people right away," Lyle writes. "It’s fun to watch them as they are so aggressive and chase each other so much that I wonder how they can gain anything, but  guess they must."

Check out these beauties:

And now I have a related question for you, dear readers. My hummingbird feeders are being overrun by bees. The hummingbird still gets its share, but between the hummer and the bees, it’s hard to keep enough nectar in the feeders. The bees are lethargic and certainly not aggressive. But I’d still rather not have so many next to the house.

Can anyone suggest how I can keep the hummingbird(s) coming but discourage the bees?

Your answers, pictures, observations eagerly anticipated here: jlundy@duluthnews.com.

This morning, a canary was feeding among the starlings on my deck.

Or if it wasn’t a canary, it was some sort of bird that clearly isn’t from here. It either escaped from someone’s cage or was released by an irresponsible owner. It isn’t designed for this environment, and it won’t survive.

But it seems to be doing just fine today. It wasn’t in the least intimidated by the bigger birds, and they tolerated it. On the other hand, it wanted nothing to do with me, and I had all sorts of camera troubles. I kept thinking: I wish Bob King were here.

After my first attempts were foiled by weak batteries, I raced around the house, found new batteries, hurried back to my viewing point and promptly scared away the canary and the starlings.

So I put out much more millet than I usually would, and was rewarded with even bigger numbers of starlings, grackles, red-winged blackbirds and bluejays.

And eventually, the canary — or whatever it is — returned. And I got pictures good enough to at least show you that I wasn’t hallucinating.

Can you see it here?

And here it is, with a couple of bluejays:

And feeding with the starlings:

The other birds look a trifle nonplussed, don’t they? So was I.

Your pictures and stories of birds, foreign and domestic, welcome at: jlundy@duluthnews.com.

Bits and pieces from here and there:

• The fall migration season has begun at the Hawk Ridge Observatory, according to Debbie Waters, the education director. The daily count of raptors and songbirds (technically: passerines), headed up by Karl Bardon, began on Saturday and won’t be over until the end of November. Waters and her fellow educators will be on hand from Sept. 1 through the end of October. You can check the daily count totals here: www.hawkcount.org/month_summary.php To plan your visit to Hawk Ridge, start here: www.hawkridge.org/visit/visit.html
• I didn’t plan it this way — very little about this blog is planned — but hummingbirds seem to be a frequent topic recently. If you’re especially big on the little birds and you’re looking for a late-month road trip, consider this: Henderson Hummingbird Hurrah, Aug. 28-30, in Henderson, Minn., just southwest of the Twin Cities. This celebration of ruby-throated hummingbirds before they leave for the winter boasts hummingbird banding, tours of gardens and hummingbird habitats, guest speakers, book signings, activities for children and more. Does the Henderson Hummingbird Hurrah havea Web site? Of course it does: www.hendersonmn.com/HHH/index.php
• I don’t know if it has anything to do with fall migration, but I saw a mourning dove hanging around my deck this morning. It’s the first mourning dove I’ve seen in probably three months. There’s no Web site that I know of for mourning doves in West Duluth.