Hi everyone,



The last several days, and particularly today, has seen a really interesting influx of sparrows in our back yard.? The White-crowned Sparrows (at least?five)?have been here in force for some time, along with the resident Song Sparrows and Spotted Towhees.? Three days ago, a Golden-crowned showed up, and today there were at least three of those in the yard.? This afternoon after getting home, I checked out the avian goings-on in the back yard and found a LINCOLN'S SPARROW - our yard first of the year, and only?our ninth yard record (most in April) for this species.? Ten minutes later I caught a glimpse of a sparrow that didn't look like any of the regulars and the binocs confirmed it as a SAVANNAH SPARROW - another first for the year, and only the second record ever in our back yard.? Scratching around under the feeders near the Savannah Sparrow was a Slate-colored Dark-eyed Junco (we see one or two of those off and on during the winter with the regular Junco flock that winters here).? Shortly after all this was going on, I noticed a bright male Purple Finch (not very common in the last two years) sitting at the top of a spruce tree in our neighbor's yard, abutting our property - and keeping him company in the same tree, only feet away, were two White-crowned Sparrows and a Golden-crowned.? At this point I ran for the camera but of course the Purple Finch flew, so I only got images of the two Zono sparrows in the tree.?



So, in the Emberizid family, we?had?EIGHT species?(ok,?to be completely correct, seven species plus a subspecies)?in the yard today:



SPOTTED TOWHEE

SONG SPARROW

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW

GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW

LINCOLN'S SPARROW

SAVANNAH SPARROW

DARK-EYED JUNCO

SLATE-COLORED JUNCO



I was going to leave shortly to take the dog for a walk, but given this guest list, maybe I should wait around for a Green-tailed Towhee, or a Sage, Vesper or - who knows, it could happen - a Baird's Sparrow?to show up before dark...LOL!



The two new year species from today put us at 42 for the year so far.





John Tubbs

Snoqualmie, WA

johntubbs at comcast.net

www.tubbsphoto.com