Thanks, very much everyone for your positive feedback. IÂm so pleased you like the photos. They are so much fun for me to do and more fun to share. Sue White-throated Sparrows can be quite variable. The one shown here is a tan-striped morph as opposed to the white-striped morph that you have there. This bird is probably a youngster also because of the heavy streaking on the breast feathers. Some adults do retain some streaking but I donÂt think quite this much. Sparrows can be a real challenge to ID. Gldno, thanks, I didnÂt know that the juvie White-crowned had red-brown coloring on their heads. Neat! This is the first one of these IÂve ever had here. There is only this one in a large flock of mixed Juncos and sparrows. Marian, yes we do get Purple Finches here, they are our state bird, but I only rarely get them in my feeders. The females do look just like sparrows. T. no, no, no No snow envy You donÂt want this We have way too much. But if you insist IÂd be happy to ship it all your way. LOL Thanks! Michelle and Eileen, "unbirded" LOL Deanne

Nice! I'm looking forward to spring as well. Here's my back yard. This is last fall after I finished planting the back of the yard. It's on the edge of the property looking toward the house. In the foreground are two nannyberry shrubs (a viburnum related to cranberry) and then an area where I've planted a prairie garden and covered it with compost. You can see where I've left space for a path to walk through, and I plan to put a bench there. Back towards the house there is where the garden starts, and I had started planting there last year. It's nice in the summer sitting out on the patio, where I can watch the bird feeders and enjoy being surrounded by native plants. The area where I'm standing, with the nannyberry and the small post right beyond it, used to be completely infested with buckthorn and many invasive weeds. It took me 2 years to clear it all out. Now that the area is opened up a bit, I'm hoping that I'll have bluebirds nesting again (saw many here during fall migration.) I left this post standing as a spot for the bluebirds to perch, and to hang a nice sign. The post used to be completely obscured by buckthorn.

Very nice photo! I still have white-throats here in southeast MA. They're here all winter and may breed here as well although I usually don't see them in the summer. They've been singing away so they may be intent on staying around. I've been learning how to see them more regularly (bribe them with nyjer seed on the ground and look just before it gets dark) so maybe this summer I'll keep seeing them. Claire This post was edited by claire on Mon, Apr 29, 13 at 20:03

catherinet: I just checked the song of the White-crowned Sparrow on All About Birds but it's not it. We don't get white-crowns here anyway, or at least very rarely. I did see a pair years ago (I think) when I didn't know it was rare and I don't have pictures. I checked eBird and they were seen in the area at that time so my sighting might have been legitimate. The Beethoven song I hear is common - I hear it every year so it must be a common bird in my area. Claire