To those interested in a sidelight of the Harris's Sparrow saga, I'd like to
share a personal observation.
When I lived in South Dakota some years ago, I had many Harris's Sparrows visit
my feeders, especially in Fall, Winter, and early
Spring.
Almost invariably, they were Immature birds. What I notably remember is that
the immature Harris's were never seen with adult birds.
They were always hanging around with other species, e.g. Juncos, White-throated
Sparrows, House Finches, Purple Finches, etc. I
NEVER saw them in the company of adult Harris's, and I never saw adult Harris's
at those times of year. It got to be a phenomenon
that I recognized on a typical, yearly basis.
My hypothesis is that (for whatever reason), the adults ostracize the young
birds until they "look like us" - i.e., until they get
their full adult plumage. Don't ask me why.
Sound crazy? Well, maybe, but that's what I've observed. I thought I'd share
this to explain a possible scenario as to why this
particular bird showed up where it did - amongst a group of similar, but
not-the-same species birds.
Sorry to see that some people have missed it. I hope it hangs around and you
get another chance! It is a beautiful treat for VA.
Jon Little
Winchester
----- Original Message -----
From: Patricia <larnersky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Yulee Larner <larnery@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, April 22, 2002 8:20 PM
Subject: [va-bird] Harris's Sparrow still in Wyers Cave
Hello allappearance before the neighbor's dog scared it away . If you plan to go please
This evening I visited the Houff's to see if the Harris's Sparrow was still
around . At about 6: 30 pm the bird made a brief
email to
Ring -- billed Gull -- 55 -- which 40 were at AMC this morning & the rest at
the Staunton Mall
Herring Gull -- 3 at AMC
Caspian Tern -- 1 -- At AMC
Bells Lane had 1 Am. Avocet , 1 Greater Yellowlegs , 3 Lesser Yellowlegs ,
4 Ruddy Duck , 3 Green -- winged Teal & 2 Am Wigeon .
Happy Birding to all Allen Larner
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send
email to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.