[EBB Sightings] White-throated Sparrow

I live in a wooded corner of north Orinda, up on the hill just east  
of San Pablo Dam Road and south of Bear Creek Road.  This morning, a  
male White-throated Sparrow, unmistakable with its conspicuous white  
throat and yellow in the supraloral area, appeared on a rock in the  
sun on the sharp rise behind my backyard feeders, and posed just long  
enough for me to get a good look through my binoculars.  This is not  
only a back yard first, it is also a California first for me.  I have  
been looking for it since, without luck. If anyone else would like to  
search for it, please contact me.

Although California Quail are not exactly rare birds, their  
appearance in my back yard in increasing numbers is.  Only twice in  
the last 20 years had I spotted a Quail in my back yard.  Two years  
ago, a nesting pair appeared, followed some weeks later by a brood of  
eleven fuzzy little golf-balls on wheels.  Only two of that brood  
survived, one male and one female.  Last spring, we had two breeding  
couples, and three broods.  In December, 2008, it warmed my heart to  
count eleven adult Quail (six males and five females) foraging under  
my feeder.  I think my next door neighbors' blackberry brambles,  
growing wild along their back fence, has given the covey needed shelter.

In addition to all the local yokels, my feeders also attract Hairy,  
Downy and Acorn Woodpeckers, and both White- and Red-Breasted  
Nuthatches. Other back yard regulars: Bewick's Wrens and Spotted  
Towhees, Ruby-Crowned Kinglets and in winter, Hermit Thrushes and  
Golden-Crowned Sparrows.

  
     
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