I LOVE vibrant - some might say gaudy - colours. My closet ripples with red and purple, my flowerbeds glow with orange and fuschia. And, like most people, I get excited when I catch a glimpse of a brightly coloured bird visiting my yard. Yellow warblers, goldfinches, house finches, purple finches and even the occasional oriole or hummingbird all attract and delight my eye. But over the years I've come to appreciate the less flamboyant species as well. These generic SBBs (small brown birds) repay patient observation by revealing wonderful differences in behaviour and personality, all while quietly cloaked in beautifully intricate plumage of coffee, caramel and cream. The sparrow family provides my husband and me with constant entertainment, especially during the spring, when many species are passing through on their way to northern nesting grounds. There's the Harris's sparrow (Zonotrichia querula), with its neat black cravat. Here in Saskatchewan this bird visits for only a few weeks, but I've watched it on the tundra where it nests. As it hops about searching for food, it resembles a business man striding briskly off to a meeting. All that's missing is the briefcase. The chipping sparrow (Spizella passerina), a lovely thing with a bright rust-coloured cap, often spends the entire summer with us and raises a family in our yard. We know it's there from the "chip" and "sewing machine" calls, and it's not shy about coming onto the deck to visit us if there are bugs to be found. It takes patience, and sharp eyes and ears, to identify some other SBBs. The American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea) wears a dark grey spot over its heart. The White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) and White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) are similar in appearance but the white-throat's lovely lilt of "Oh Sweet Canada Canada" gives it away. (That call, by the way, is one of the few I know that actually sounds the way people have written it down.) Perhaps the ultimate SBB and the most unappreciated is the English or House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). Introduced to North America in the 1850s, it is omnipresent, considered a destructive pest, and is rarely featured in photographic spreads of beautiful birds. Yet the male in full breeding regalia (pictured) is strikingly handsome. His mate, by contrast, is so unobtrusive as to be nearly invisible. Each spring, I watch as a male begins refurbishing one of our nest boxes. His mate arrives and in an amazingly short time I will hear soft peeps when I walk by. Soon, fat, toad-like baby sparrows with wide yellow beaks are hopping about, pecking their toes as they search for food and trying to fly among the shrubs. I love to watch their antics. It is in the harshest part of winter, when it is so bitterly cold outside that it hurts to breathe, that I most appreciate the small brown birds. Each day, they come to our feeders, drab feathers fluffed, voices raised in unexotic chirps. There is not a bright, exciting colour in sight: just a vibrant symbol of life's remarkable persistence, gently tucked away in a plain brown wrapper. - REBECCA L. GRAMBO