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So much for perfect timing! My evening grosbeaks held on till one day
before the CBC meeting, then departed to disappoint us; and yesterday I
discovered that my grasshopper sparrow had returned to his familiar spot at Rich
Mtn. Gap--a couple days after the CBC meeting! Shucks.
While grasshopper sparrows may be more common in your vacinity, this little
fellow who spent the entire summer at the gap last year was only the 3rd such
sparrow to be seen in Watauga Cnty, where there is no recorded nesting of that
species. Now, exactly a year to the week, another grasshopper sparrow is
claiming the very same territory (I presume it to be the same sparrow).
Last summer the mate was never discovered.
What does this little fellow think he's doing at the gap all alone?
Well, all alone in terms of his own species. Vesper, field, &
song sparrows are abundant at the gap--all singing heartily in the warm early
evening yesterday.
Walton Conway
Boone, NC
Golden Cockerel Crafts' On-Line Gallery of "Russian Gifts Fit for a Czar":
http://www.goldencockerel.com
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