This morning, I awoke early to the sound of chipping sparrows singing from the tree tops of my back yard. This afternoon, one pair fed and flirted away on my deck and were later joined by a third. I have not seen them on my property since 1993 although they nest up at WSMV studios a few blocks across the Interstate from me. I have seen a couple of them remain up there in the winter from time to time as well. I still have two juncos, and they are courting. They should soon be leaving as the rest of their species has. My male cardinal very sweetly cracks sunflower seeds and feeds them to his lady, a fete they will both perform later when they bring their offspring to my deck for food. The mockingbirds are mating and fighting other birds away from "their" peanut butter and "their" jelly on which they are feeding greedily. The flicker is still coming for ants, but I had a scare yesterday. The neighborhood stray (feral?) cat was in the grass very near the ant nest and appeared to be eating something. I feared flicker, but found no feathers. Flicker was back just a bit ago. Downy woodpeckers, Carolina wrens, chickadees and tufted titmice are feeding frequently along with the house sparrows, house finches, blue jays & starlings. A pair of grackles provided many chuckles as they tried ever so hard to unwind a dead, but strong cord-sized vine from where it had climbed my rose bush last year. They have been at it for two days now and have not been successful. They WANT that vine, but it is a very stubborn and very tough vine. A female towhee was feeding on my deck on Friday(?) of last week in the pouring rain. I rarely see them although they :"live" in the low vegetation and trees which border the Interstate about a block away. The sapsucker is still hanging around. He likes my water maple tree and a cedar tree down the street. I have seen him feed on maple sap then fly down the street to the cedar tree three times today, and I have not even really been watching. I saw a female several days ago. Maybe he has her stashed in the cedar and is delivering her meals! I have not seen the hairys for several days, so they have probably gone on. Enjoy your birding. I do. Dee Thompson Nashville, TN =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- 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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423) 764-3958 =========================================================