drb (04/14/83)
Just kidding with the crack about birdbrains, but it is nice to know that this column is alive. I am interested in listening in on chit-chat about about bird watching, and I suppose that's what this newsgroup is all about. I am a very amateur watcher of common east coast birds. I have best luck at the folk's place in Maryland. They have the ideal setup - large picture window next to woods, etc. They have resident sparrows of numerous varieties, flickers, downy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers (a name I will never understand), nuthatches, tufted titmouses, juncos, cowbirds, and mourning doves as well as the standard chick-a-dees, cardinals, robins, jays, grackles etc. I also glimpse wandering or migrating orioles, rufous-sided towhees, scarlet tanagers, and others from time to time. Last week they said they saw a small bird with a distinctly indigo head and grey body. I can only suppose it was an immature indigo bunting. New Jersey has not proved as fruitful with home sighting, even though my house is in a wooded area. I don't know if we have a state bird, but I nominate the starling! drb