It seems as if the weeks and months sailed by this year. A pretty typical winter gave way to a short spring. Then a long, late spring season of rains deluged us. Next came draught. Now the holidays are beckoning - time to wrap our minds around still another season, one when we tend to be indoors looking out.

Now I enjoy watching the visitors to my backyard. Whether my eyes go first to bare tree branches or a covering of snow, it's so much easier to spot the birds. It's time to be sure feeders are clean and filled. Offering water and even a pile of brush in which birds can find cover is the order of the day.

Just as I love to go visiting homes during the holiday season where there are tempting arrays of festive foods, our feathered friends flock to well-provisioned yards. The feed offered often determines the kinds of birds that come. I have only to walk my neighborhood to see proof positive. Returning from a lap around the block, my yard is teeming with movement and alive with chirping because of well-stocked feeders. Yards that offer no feeding stations are silent and still.

I like to maintain several feeders: one with black oil sunflower, one with safflower, another with peanuts, and a heavy-duty sock filled with nyger seed. With this array, I get to see cardinals (lots of them), blue jays, nuthatches, tufted titmouses, sparrows, juncos, gold finches (remember the male is drab green in winter not yellow), and mourning doves. I also include a suet feeder because I want to attract woodpeckers in the winter. The Red-Bellied appears as soon as the season turns cool, and I also get to see Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers. I know there are Pileated Woodpeckers in the neighborhood, but we have not been lucky enough to spot them in our yard. (It could be the dogs barking!)

Don't forget water. Even during freezing weather, birds need water to drink and bath. A heated birdbath is the best solution so as to always having open water. If you have a pond, use a pond heater to keep a small open area of fresh water. Birds that don't eat seed will visit your birdbath even while passing by your feeders.

Once the basics are in place - seed feeders, peanuts, suet and water - I turn my attention to holiday decorations that consider winged visitors. I attach a bright red bow on feeders and wreaths on the stockade fence that shields the feeding station. I also put a out some special holiday treats, a safflower snowman, seed wreathes, and festive seed bells.

Don't forget your birds in your backyard during the holidays and they won't forget to give your hours of entertainment when the family and friends gather.