John Hanske <jhanske at yahoo.com> wrote:

We had the pleasure of seeing four Gold-Crowned
Sparrows and One White Crowned Sparrow on the ground
below our feeder last night around 7:00pm. We live in
Magnolia north of Discovery Park.

Hi John,

I'm still getting a fair movement of Zonotrichia and fox sparrows through my
yard here in west Olympia.

I've been setting up 2 mist-nets in the yard for 1-2 hours in the evening
after work, and so far this week I've caught and banded:

4 Golden-crowned sparrows
1 Gambel's White-crowned sparrow
3 Fox Sparrows
1 Downy Woodpecker - third year male
2 Song Sparrows - both recaptures
One male in breeding condition
One female which has had a fully-developed brood patch since 31
March

Most of the 'wintering' sparrows have been very fat - stoking up energy for
their northward migration. My wintering flock of Oregon juncos dispersed
last week, and only a couple of juncos remain in the yard - potentially the
'local' neighborhood breeders. There is a Puget Sound white-crowned
sparrow male calling 1/2 block away, but my yard is apparently not quite
'right' for them, as I mist-net very few of them every spring. I would
expect to see fledgling song sparrows in early May again this year, given
the mild winter/spring and the fact that the adults were doing their nesting
thing at the end of March. Both of the song sparrows had no apparent body
fat, which is to be expected - nesting birds use a lot of energy defending
territories, producing eggs, brooding, etc., and don't spend as much time
feeding.

The woodpecker had absolutely no body fat, as well; I presume that he was
likewise busy with his nesting/breeding activities.

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net