Last night at the end of the Sports Show shift, I was waiting outside of the convention center for Non Birding Bill to pick me up. It was around 10pm. I noticed a large pile of bird poop under a lamp that was lighting the area and instantly thought, "Someone is nesting there."

I then realized that it's late March, no small bird could have successfully nested in the last few weeks. I wondered, "Is someone sleeping up on the lamp?"

I always wonder about roosting birds and where they go. Some birds, we know where they go, but I do wonder about sparrows, cardinals, blue jays--where are those dudes sleeping. I tried to position myself to see who was up there. I whipped out my binoculars and silently chuckled as a couple of smokers next to me tried to nonchalantly edge a few feet away. What on earth did they think I was doing or going to do to them? They were just binoculars for cryin’ out loud. Granted, it was dark out, not a traditional time to watch birds, but not unreasonable either--you’re not going to get cooties from someone with a pair of binoculars.

The bird looked to be a male house sparrow: small, gray and brown and a little dark patch on the chest. I snapped a few photos and he continued to sleep. Based on the amount of poop on the ledge and on the ground, this guy must have been using this site all winter.

The birding just never stops.

I forgot to mention in the previous post that Kim and Cindy Risen have a table full of their new paper called Nature Scape News that they are handing out free. It's goal is celebrating the joy of birds, butterflies and wildflowers. They mentioned to me late last year they were going to start it, and boy howdy they have already sent out three issues. It's for the Midwest area and you can either sign up for a subscription on their website or many wild bird specialty stores have them for sale as well. It's a great publication full of photos and articles about backyard and general birding. Check it out if you get the chance.