Horrah!  The bird that Jan has seen in her garden has been identified –

Jann said,   

Trish,
I got a kick out of your private email in which you suggested the dark-eyed junco as a candidate for the bird I saw on my deck in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. I had been doing lots of research on the web and had just decided the best candidate is the slate-colored junco.

You did a great job of suggesting a junco on the limited information I gave you.

Here is a picture.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11437102@N00/319018993/

The breast of the pictured bird is much lighter than that of the bird I saw. Some internet pictures show slate-colored juncos with darker breasts. The light beak also fits with my bird.

The slate-colored junco is suppose to be very common in my area at this time of year (I did not grow up here so didn’t know this – had never even heard of juncos). They like to visit bird feeders. They are known as snow birds and will soon move north.

Sorry I don’t have a way to get a photo.

Thanks so much for your interest and help

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I’m really glad the puzzle has been solved and it’s  been really interesting for me to think of a bird in a USA garden and then think or our garden birds.  Bird watching and feeding seems to be the same in a lot of places.