Pure Luck!

Harris's Sparrow

Harris's Sparrow

Well we managed to get a lifer today just by luck! We pulled into a rest area not to bird since its been raining since we woke this morning so Simon could get on the net for a little bit and I made lunch. I happened to put the window down just to listen for any bird activity. I actually hear some singing away! To bad it wasn't raining we probably would have went for a walk. I was looking, searching the trees when I noticed a small songbird fly into the tree; then over to the other side of the truck. We looked out Simon's window and saw a flock of Dark-eyed Juncos. Then Simon spotted a bird with a yellow head and thought it might be a warbler. We put on the 500mm lens and located the bird and took a couple more pictures. I stepped out of the truck and got a few more and was eager to identify this new bird knowing it was something new. First I looked at the Longspurs and nothing quiet matched up so I flipped to the sparrow section of my Stokes Field Guide and just pure luck turned right to the Harris's Sparrow page! Their it was! So exciting when you can identify a bird without help from others; I must say my identifying skills have improved very much so!!

As I was uploading the photos of the sparrow from today there was photos of what Simon had thought were Brewer's Blackbirds, (taken on the 17th) but I thought that they looked more like Brown-headed Cowbirds and I was right!!

Brown-headed Cowbirds

Happy Birding!!