As Gail Mackiernan noted, Jane Kostenko and I arrived at the Golden-crowned 
Sparrow spot after they had already seen it well. There was a guy there from PA 
in front of them and when Gail and Barry left, we pulled forward so that we were 
directly across from the favored pokeberry. After an initial showing, the bird 
disappeared for a bit but came out sporadically. We got some photos but then I 
grabbed the video camera and was able to get some frame filling video. PA guy 
was still there when we decided to leave just before noon.

If you haven't tried for the sparrow yet, the snow may seriously interfere with 
viewing. But, if you get lucky like we did today and there are basically on 
other cars, try and park about 2 car lengths south of the gap in the hedge. 
There's a clump of pokeberries there that seems to be the favorite feeding spot.

BTW, the Northern Wheatear showed nicely this morning. When we arrived at the 
locked gates, a guy from NJ had walked in so when nobody showed to unlock by 
0835, we walked in also. We ran into him on his way out. He told us where he had 
seen it and shortly after we arrived, we found it foraging in the grass on 
either side of the path near the 5-wide toilets. When the park ranger finally 
arrived, he was very apologetic and said it was fine to walk in which was a 
relief despite the lack of No Tresspassing signs.
 
Tyler Bell

California, Maryland