For a birder living in Southern California, these birds are the sight and sound of fall and winter. Amid the unchanging live oaks and evergreens, and the slow-turning sweetgums, White-crowned Sparrows arrive to declare autumn with a melodious, fluting song. It is a wonderful, bright accompaniment to the changing season.

​

Here, the sparrows gather in a Bigcone Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga macrocarpa) to sing their carol together. The songbook is titled Lieder to commemorate the many winter carols I sang at German Saturday school over the years. The youngsters (distinguished by their brown caps) pay close attention, refining their tune based on the adults' song.

​

On winter evenings, these birds can be heard caroling together in overlapping sequence, reminiscent of listening to change ringing in a set of bells. One song alone is beautiful - several overlapping at once sound so cheerful at day's end, it makes me feel like - well, it makes me feel like this: