> Is anybody familiar with a small, sparrow-sized bird called a "mountain blue bird?" I understand that they are supposed to be only in the Rocky Mountains, but I was at my daughter's house, practically in the shadow of the Smokies, this morning and there was one in her flower garden. There was also a similar sized yellow bird that I believe was a goldfinch, and a few cardinals. All in all it was a rather colorful bunch of birds. I noticed several humming birds and a brown rabbit. All of this was before breakfast. You have to get up early to see all that wildlife.
> Howard
> PS - Humming birds hum because they don't know the words. Have I ever lied to you?

Hmmm. Never heard of it, but once I saw just a regular blue bird. That was exciting because according the authorities at Martin Nature Park (a favorite place to hike), they're becoming more and more rare.
My husband and I were out walking the other evening and this guy told us there were some foxes running around in the neighborhood, but we didn't see any. Might have to go out again sometime and look. We did see a brown rabbit, a mockingbird, and earlier in the day driving home we saw a red-tailed hawk flying low across the street. It was pretty exciting, especially the hawk. There are a lot of them around where we live right now, but it's getting more and more developed here and I'm afraid they're going to disappear and be replaced by more Krispy Kremes and Starbucks (Starbuckses?).