Spring sparrow

Amongst the noise of the city- buses, sirens, semi-trucks, studded tires, and so on comes the long sweet song of springs' return- the white-crowned sparrows. I don't know where they disappear to during winter in Everett; I think they just blend in because they are quiet. I see them around our place here on Camano Island but not in the city. Now they're singing back and forth across the blocks setting up their territories and looking for a mate. They sing from the wires, from the tops of lampposts, branches of rhododendrons, and other shrubs and trees throughout downtown. Here they nest on the ground (sometimes above ground in a shrub) somehow dodging opossums and stray cats.

I actually heard the first one of the spring on April 3rd in the Tulalip Casino parking lot (no I don't gamble, I was attending a conference). The next day was the first one I heard in Everett. Now I hear them every morning. A day later I saw the first violet-green swallows of Everett. Since then I see them all over the place. So many birds so little time.

Okay- not swallows or sparrow but I wanted to include a nice photo. Black oystercatchers, Washington Park May 2011.

I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder

for a moment. I felt that I was more

distinguished by that circumstance

than I should have been by any

epaulet I could have worn.

Henry David Thoreau