Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Oh-dear-me

Golden-crowned Sparrow

My Birds of Seattle book describes the song of the Golden-crowned Sparrow as a plaintive "Oh, dear, me!" They are only found on the West coast, and stop by Puget Sound in the Spring during migration to breeding grounds in Canada and Alaska. We always look for them, but some years they don't come at all, which is strange and sad.

Last week I noticed several were hanging around the yard. Their habit is to ground feed on the dropped seed, so you usually see them first under the bird feeder. The yellow head patch on the male is a vibrant yellow and hard to miss-- the females and juveniles are more drab.





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