December 4, 2005 [LINK]

More Fox sparrows

The cold spell eased enough for me to go on a comfortable walk behind the Staunton-Augusta Rescue Squad this morning. [Snow is forecast for this evening!] In the distance I spotted a Sharp-shinned hawk flying and then diving after its intended prey. I also saw at least a couple dozen Cedar waxwings, and quite a few Robins, as well as a Hermit thrush and some Fox sparrows. Unfortunately, the only picture I got of one of them was with the sun in back, resulting in excessive glare, but the bold streaks are still visible. Oddly, no woodpeckers or nuthatches appeared, though I did hear a few. No sign of that late-lingering catbird, either.

UPDATE: While clearing out the huge stack of accumulated e-mail messages from my in-box this weekend, I came across a few birding Web sites in other countries, so I've added them to my list of birding Web links: Gone Birding (Costa Rica), avesdelima.com (Lima, Peru), and oiseaux.net (French).