This morning a lovely immature White-throated Sparrow appeared in our yard,
scarfing up millet with the House Sparrows and then assuaging its thirst in
the fountain. This is the third time I've seen one in our yard in North
Seattle in 11 years of living here. Previous birds have stayed only a day
or so, and we're hoping this one likes the setup enough to stay for the
winter.

There has been a persistent Fox Sparrow this fall that may be wintering,
something that has not happened before (although we saw one for a week in
December one year). We usually see them only in migration. This one is one
of the lighter subspecies of "Sooty" Fox Sparrows from Alaska.

We usually have at least one "Slate-colored" Dark-eyed Junco for the winter,
and this year is no exception, a fine dark male. The main bunch of "Oregon"
Juncos came in only last weekend, later than usual. One bird really looks
like a "Pink-sided" Junco, and I wish I could be more confident of
identifying immatures of that Rocky Mountain subspecies. There is an
article about it in a recent Birding magazine, but I'm still left puzzled by
birds that may just be pale extremes of Oregon Juncos.

Golden-crowned Sparrows wintered in our yard every winter from 1992 to 1998,
but since then we've seen them only in spring and fall migration. I don't
know what that means. Perhaps the yard is getting too wooded for them, with
all the trees we've planted.

We have two male Spotted Towhees this winter, and they fight whenever they
see each other. Usually they feed on opposite sides of a dense shrub, so
maybe they've worked something out.

Song Sparrows were resident when we moved in here, but now they don't seem
to breed any more, at least no males singing within hearing distance. But
young birds come to the feeders in late summer, so they're breeding nearby.
I never see more than one or two at the feeders.

We get a Lincoln's and White-crowned Sparrows in the yard on occasion in
spring and fall, but not every year (maybe they're just not showing up on
weekends), and I've seen one American Tree Sparrow and one Savannah Sparrow
(the biggest surprise).

Dennis Paulson
--
Netta Smith and Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115