Dear Nancy, Ruth, and Tweeters,

Fox Sparrows are indeed cool birds to have at one's
feeder.

When I lived in Concrete (Upper Skagit Valley), I kept
a feeding station going for eight years, but never
ever did a Fox Sparrow show up. We saw American Tree
Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, Harris's Sparrow,
and a Chipping Sparrow at that feeder, but never a
Fox. Oddly enough, Fox Sparrows breed just ten or
twelve miles up the highway from Concrete, on Sauk
Mountain. I think in the whole time I lived there, I
saw only one or two Fox Sparrows in Concrete, but
those were in blackberry tangles near the river.

Now I live farther west, near Lyman, and see Fox
Sparrows at my feeder quite often.

Good birding,
Gary Bletsch


--- Ruth Sullivan <godwit at worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> Hello Nancy,
> When we moved here in Fircrest we had this Fox
> Sparrows on a regular basis.But in the last few
> years there been almost absent here.We get them
> occasional and we making a big fuss when we have
> them as a yard bird.Declining there not we had high
> count on the CBC here in Tacoma.But a Fox Sparrow is
> a great yard bird Enjoy so long there in you yard.
>
>
> Cheers Ruth Sullivan
> Fircrest Tacoma
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Nancy
> To: Tweets
> Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 1:32 PM
> Subject: Fox Sparrow
>
>
> Hi Tweets;
> We have what I am pretty sure is a FOX SPARROW
> coming around our feeder. I had a very difficult
> time identifying him because he does not look like
> most of the photos in my field guides. But The
> Audubon field guide has a very close photo. I read
> that they are somewhat rare in King County. His
> behavior is very timid and he runs under the bushes
> whenever I come out for a closer look. He does not
> appear to have a mate, but I am not sure. This
> morning I found him digging in the garden and got a
> close look with my binoculors. He digs with both
> feet like a thrush. He has a white eye ring, is
> dark brown with a gray head and no stripe on his
> head. His breast is streaked but muted. So, I
> gather he is the Northwest variety of this bird
> since the other photos in Petersons and Stokes do
> not look like the same bird.
> Nancy
> Renton, WA
> n.lander at comcast.net
>
>


=====

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com


__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam
http://mail.yahoo.com