[EBB Sightings] garden sparrows and jays

Dear Birders:  

Richard Cimino wrote this morning that the winter sparrows appear to
have departed from his garden-- overnight at that.  Yesterday my deck
feeder was alive with Golden-crowned Sparrows, most with handsome gold
and black head strips, stoking up for the long flight north.  Well,
sometime during the night they left and I confess to feeling bereaved. 
The millet feeder now belongs to the resident towhee, and the Mourning
Doves who strut about being disagreeable.  Fortunately the hanging
niger and sunflower feeders will continue to attract Lesser
Goldfinches, Chestnut-backed Chicadees, the junco pair and other
resident birds small enought to slip through the cage protector.  Still
those winter sparrows -- Fox, White-crowned, and Golden Crowns -- will
be missed and I'm already thinking ahead to late September when I once
again hear that sweet plaintive golden-crowned song.

A good cure for the departure blues, is a walk along one of the local
creeks which are alive with the song and activities of the summer
residents who are establishing their territories

Judi Sierra and then Kay Loughman wrote about the jays and their
intimate song.  I, too, have heard that springtime song in my garden. 
You have to be close enough to hear this domestic "talk."  Yes, very
different from the discordant raspy call that is their public face.


Phila Rogers


Woops!  Looking out on the deck I see two Golden-crown Sparrows --
either brirds passing through or lingerers from the winter flocks. 
Looking over my records, I see that one or two GC's will be seen until
the end of April. 

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