Take what you can...
This morning I had big plans to leave Pheasant Branch Conservancy with a flash card full of digital images of sparrows – it was not to be. The location was right, the light was perfect and sparrows were super plentiful, but for some reason I couldn't keep them in the frame today. Hey...it happens!
Field Sparrow (click for larger image)
Some days it seems like you can digiscope anything and everything, while other times it"s a struggle even under the best conditions. Luckily, I did get a nice photo of a Field Sparrow, but my favorite was this angelic looking House Wren caught giving its wings a good stretch:
House Wren (click for larger image)
Sparrows and allies present were: White-crowned, White-throated, Fox, Song, Swamp, Field, Chipping, Lincoln's, Dark-eyed Junco, Eastern Towhee and my first American Tree Sparrow of fall migration. After I finished digiscoping, I birded the prairie to the big springs where I bumped into Rick Terrien. We made one more lap around the prairie for another round with the sparrows.
I discovered a nice surprise when I got home - there was a veritable "finch fest" going on in our backyard. There were dozens of Pine Siskins, Purple Finches, House Finches and American Goldfinches at our feeders and birdbaths.
Pine Siskin
Purple Finch and House Finch
American Goldfinch
In fact, it was an incredibly good day for backyard birding:
Cooper's Hawk
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
Chipping Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Purple Finch
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
All images © 2007 Mike McDowell
posted by Mike McDowell @ 4:11 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Backyard birding was excellent today. Sometimes you are meant to be at home... GREAT PHOTOS! ;)
The house wren photo is fabulous Mike! All in all a great day to be out and about with friends, birds and all that life brings.
Wow, that is a month's worth of house sightings for me!
All the photos are great, as usual. Thanks for posting a picture of the purple finch. I have heard them once or twice in my neighborhood, but I've never seen one. I'm always looking looking, looking at the house finches and consulting 3 field guides. Sometimes drawings are no substitute for a photograph.
Wanna see'm up real close?
Click here.
and here.
Mike
THANK YOU for the picture of a purple finch and a house finch in the same picture. I'm going to link it in my House Finch posts. The photos in bird books make it difficult to distinguish the two. This photo is great!
Mike if you live in an area that has alot of House Finches and House Sparrows will that discourage Purple Finces from coming to a Feeder?
Kevin
Anon,
While I haven't noticed an aggression trend either direction between Purple Finches and House Finches at our backyard feeders, one study (Shedd 1990) indicates Purple Finches lost 90% of aggressive encounters occurring with House Finches. Generally, we only see Purple Finches in our backyard for a week or so during migration, so I don't really have a good feel for how this plays out at bird feeders. Perhaps my photo demonstrates the exception!
Mike
Thanks for the additional pictures! It can be so aggravating to be stymied by such a seemingly simple finch. :) I am now certain that I still haven't seen one, but having heard them, I am even more motivated to keep looking.
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