Up-to-Date Information on the Species

Ted Morrissey

a found poem

The black is replaced by
gray in the adult female.
Brown streaking on the breast
is an important mark ... Chocolate
brown above, russet below.

Spring males have a yellow
crown. Some have a yellow
spot before the eye. Adults
are blue-gray above with rusty
barring below.

All have a yellow rump . . .
And a fondness for parked cars.

Griggs, Jack L. All the Backyard Birds: West. New York: HarperPerennial, 1998.