I got up early (for me--7:15 a.m.) to see what the Great Blizzard of 2008 had brought and was delighted to find a couple of tree sparrows foraging with the juncos, house finches, house sparrows and tree sparrows in our northern Columbus (near Worthington) front yard, under the feeder beside our big blue spruce. Might not seem exciting to most folks, but I've rarely seen them south of 161 and never in my very own yard since this is our first winter in this house. I observed that the tree and song sparrows were also eating the little leaves left on an azalia bush. A male robin commandeered one of the backyard feeders nearly all day, snacking on the suet and driving off all competitors. Fourteen species in all, but not the pair of red-breasted nuthatches who lived in the spruce all winter; I think they left some time last week. And not the Carolina wrens, who usually show up when it snows; that worries me. Pam Unger I get up. I walk. I fall down. Meanwhile, I keep dancing. --Rabbi Hillel ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]