[EBB Sightings] goodbye for now

Dear Birders:

As of yesterday I still had two golden-crowns visiting my feeders in the 
Berkeley Hills, the latest by a week and a half according my 
twenty-five-year records.  But this morning they appear to be gone.  Those 
last two lingering birds probably lifted into the dark sky last night to 
begin their the long trek north.  Within the month they should be building 
their nests beneath the dwarf willows bordering the dry tundra or among the 
twisted spruce at timberline (Kaufman).

Five months to go -- and counting -- before their sweet-sad song is heard in 
our gardens again.  My notebooks say sometime after September 20 -- just 
when you notice that the days are growing shorter.

Someday, in a moment of mad impetuousness, I'll board Alaska Airlines and be 
there when they arrive.

Phila Rogers