I'm back with a White-crowned Sparrow

Wow, it's been 3 weeks--first I had computer problems, then I got sick with bronchitis which put a quick stop to my birding and most everything else. Finally I'm getting better.

I actually took this pic of this handsome White-crowned Sparrow just before I got sick--be sure to double-click on the pic to enlarge to really see it's beautiful brown eye. White-crowned Sparrows are common birds in the lower elevations in SE Colo during the winter. They tend to hang out in flocks feeding on small seeds from grasses as well as from shrubs such as rabbitbrush. Rabbitbrush, a common and prolific native plant here, has truly evolved with the native species that utilize it. When it is in bloom in late summer/early fall, butterflies feast on the blossums; then as the blooms are gone, so are the butterflies. The blooms are replaced by seeds just in time for the White-crowned Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos to move down from the their mountain summer homes. What a beautiful system. SeEtta