At the base of the Franklin Mts. outside El Paso a half hour after sunup on
April 9 of this year I witnessed a flock of Chipping Sparrows -- about fifty
or sixty of them -- stream through the scrub single-mindedly, along an
arroyo toward the mountains to the northwest, at the rate of a brisk walk.
It was quite a study in contrapuntal motion, watching them move past the
regularly spaced sentinel posts of Rufous-crowned and Black-throated
Sparrows singing on territory. There were also a lot of White-crowned
Sparrows not flocking really but drifting erratically as they foraged from
stalk to bush in loose parties of two to four.

One of the great ornithological sights in eastern Washington is the return
migration of White-crowned Sparrows across steppe sagebrush habitat in the
latter part of April. I once spent the better part of a day along the road
out of Ellensburg to Wenas, after the road reaches the high country but
still in Kittitas County, and there was never a moment without dozens upon
dozens of them in sight, moving northward in a continuous wave. Another
morning along the road into the place where the egrets nest, in the potholes
just west of Moses Lake, we saw White-crowned Sparrows estimated in the
thousands, five or six or more in every clump of brush.

Great suggestion! Observations of this kind within our state , with
specific data of time, place, location and context, are welcome for
submission to Washington Birds, the journal of the Washington Ornithological
Society.

Hal Opperman
Editor, Washington Birds
P. O. Box 286
Medina, WA 98039
Phone 206-635-0503
Fax 206-635-0271
halop at continuum.com
----------
From: tweeters
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re: Birding's Twilight Zone
Date: Friday, May 20, 1994 12:16PM

Just read your sparrow migration episode. Amazing. You should publish that
so
mewhere. Several ornithological journals have short note sections for
things
l
ike that. I've never seen 'flocks' of either species, altho Chipping
Sparrows
definitely flock on their wintering grounds in Florida, very much like
Juncos.