Michael Price wrote, replying to Howard F:

"Interesting! Last couple of days, as soon as the storms moved E and this
ridge of high pressure set up, the place has been lousy with migrating
White-crowned Sparrows of the 'Gambelii' race that nests up north, but most
of them are adults, not Basic 1 (First winter) birds."

Hi folks,

Since the last rains, my yard in Olympia has been inundated with the returning Golden-crowned Sparrows (Z. atricapilla). Most - maybe 90% - of the GCSPs I've seen and netted/banded have been "Hatching-Year" birds.

One of the birds I netted was a re-capture of a bird I'd caught and banded on 28 Sept 1996 as a Hatch-year bird. I re-captured it again a month later, on 26 Oct 1996. When I first saw this bird (unceremoniously given the number 1351-34460), it was in the first basic plumage, having brown crown stripes and a dull yellow crown, etc. When I again made acquaintence with it yesterday, it had black stripes and a brilliant yellow crown! Beautiful birds.

I wonder where this bird has spent its summer, before returning to my suburban lot? Did it build a nest on the ground among the timberline willows on a British Columbia mountainside, or in an alder thicket on Kodiak? (For that matter, I couldn't tell whether it was a male or a female - maybe it has just spent its summer singing for all and any to hear....) Does it just stop by my place en route to a Himalaya blackberry patch on the California coast, or will it spend its winter 2 blocks away? Will I see it yet again sometime in the next 6 to 8 years?

Ya never know..

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net