Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 14:38:00 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Mike Callahan Subject: Re: Signs of spring? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Speaking of finches and signs of the approaching Spring. Male American Goldfinches are just starting to grow one or two bright yellow feathers back in their plumage. This would be hard to observe with binoculars, but is very obvious when you have "bird in hand" when banding. I banded my first Brown Thrasher last week. It was enjoying the peanut kernels in our seed mix. The 5th grade students got a kick out of seeing it. They also enjoyed learning how a tongue of a woodpecker looks and works. We also recaptured a male Northern Cardinal that was originally banded in 1998. There is nothing like watching the faces of children as they get so excited about birds and birding! Naturally, Mike Callahan North Laurel, Howard County, MD I> I'd been thinking the Finches were looking pretty spiffy - for House Finches that is. > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > Fred Pierce (DNRC)- fpierce@avialantic.com > Mid-Atlantic Aviation on the Web - http://www.avialantic.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================