This must be the year of Pine Siskins and American Tree Sparrows coming to Tennessee for the winter. We've had Pine Siskins almost every winter since moving to Smithville in 2003 but never in the numbers we are seeing now - there were 7 at one of our feeders yesterday when I took a quick look. We kept the drapes closed over the picture windows most of the day due to the extreme cold. This morning we have our first ever in the yard American Tree Sparrow and we kept the drapes open long enough to get great views of the bird as it fed about 25 feet away. I had forgotten how similar they are to the Field Sparrows in general appearance but seeing them side by side in the yard the American Tree is very distinctive. This is yard bird #138 according to Virginia's records. Tommy & Virginia Curtis Smithville, TN DeKalb County =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ MAP RESOURCES Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________