Notes about your surroundings.

Bird food--The Sea & Sage chapter of the National Audubon Society has published a chart for those who enjoy feeding birds in their own back yards.

Highlights include what types of food certain species prefer and where the feeder should be placed.

They offer the following tips to attract various types of birds:

* Hummingbirds like sugar water in a hanging feeder.

* Doves and pigeons prefer millet, small seed and cracked corn but will eat black-striped sunflower seeds. Place feeder on ground.

* Woodpeckers like suet, but will eat sunflower seeds, from hanging feeder.

* Jays eat sunflower seeds, cracked corn and peanuts, and sometimes suet and fruit, from either hanging or ground feeder.

* Plain titmice, chickadees and nuthatches like sunflower seeds and peanut kernels and will eat suet. They prefer feeders off the ground.

* Mockingbirds prefer hulled sunflower seeds, but will eat suet and raisins, from ground feeder.

* Blackbirds enjoy cracked corn and seeds, and will eat millet, from a ground feeder.

* Orioles and tanagers like chopped fruit, suet and peanut butter, and will drink sugar water, from hanging feeders.

* Quail will eat cracked corn and millet from a feeder on the ground.

* House finches and goldfinches enjoy sunflower and thistle seeds, but will eat cracked corn and millet, from a feeder placed anywhere.

* Sparrows like peanut butter, seeds and cracked corn, and will eat sunflower seeds and millet, from a ground feeder.

The Sea & Sage chapter also points out that you should put out a saucer of water for the birds, especially in the summer.