Greetings,

I am glad to read that others have seen Fox Sparrows in their yards.  I 
live inside the beltway almost in Takoma Park and have a large platform 
feeder.  It is usually sporting 3 or 4 squirrels who throw bird seed 
hither thither and yonder.  I have a large number of house sparrows, 
juncos, white throats and song sparrows that like to ground feed on the 
seeds scattered by the squirrels.  On Sunday afternoon, which had been a 
very boring day at the feeder, I noted a very large and reddish 'song 
sparrow' scratching up the earth under the nearby Butterfly bushes.  
However, when a real song sparrow landed next to the new bird, I 
realized it was not a 'song sparrow'.  My kitchen window is only 10 feet 
from the bird so I really got a good look and with bird book in hand 
decided the new bird was in fact a Fox Sparrow. That was a first for me 
in 24 years of watching birds in my backyard.  Sadly the fox sparrow has 
not returned again.

George Lane
Silver Spring MD

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