Hi folks, Yesterday, 2/23/06, I heard Field Sparrows singing in both Knox and Blount Counties. The songsters were at the Episcopal School of Knoxville, off Lovell Road, and at my house just south of Maryville. In the last week I've witnessed Mourning Doves, American Kestrels and Turkey Vultures copulating. European Starlings, Eastern Bluebirds and Tufted Titmice have been checking out nest boxes. Song Sparrows and Northern Mockingbirds have gotten a lot more territorial. Last week I saw that the buds on Trailing Arbutus are starting to swell, and will be open any day now. The maples, crocus and daffodils in our yard are blooming. Most importantly, it is now daylight when I leave for work in the morning! Well, important to me, anyway. However we still have a White-crowned Sparrow, a Pine Siskin, 8 Purple Finches and a gazillion (ok, maybe 70) American Goldfinches in our yard. So it's still winter for some. happy early spring. ******************************************************************* Charlie Muise, Naturalist near Great Smoky Mountains National Park "To the dull mind all nature is leaden. To the illuminated mind the whole world sparkles with light." - Ralph Waldo Emerson __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the count 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 _____________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp _____________________________________________________________