JOURNAL 71 - THE NOVICE BIRDER

Jan. 27 & 28/05 - SPARROW SPECIAL - For the past two days I was again anticipating some sunny breaks, but they did not materialize. Mind you, I'm not complaining as fog and overcast is better than the two other weather extremes we experienced this month. As the saying goes, "When life serves you lemons, you make lemonade." I was served mainly sparrows so now we have a sparrow special with a few other delightful feathered friends.

By the way some of you may have noticed that I deleted 4 files near the beginning of my website because I was running out of space and I'm trying to keep the costs down.


THE KING & I - My little game with the King continued yesterday at French Creek. I was able to park my car right beside him, but he retaliated by only showing me his backside. Do you think he's mooning me?

LINCOLN SURPRISE - I thought I was only going to see the usual House Finches, Song Sparrows, Spotted Towhees, White-crowns, Gold-crowns, and Juncos at San Pareil, but something diferent caught my eye just as I was going to leave. It was my first Lincoln Sparrow of the year.

FEEDING FRENZY - The determined look of the female Ring-necked Duck was real as it charged into a group Mallards to get its share of the food in the pond at Craig Bay.

CAMERA SHY - The female Greater Scaup wasn't sure of the camera, but soon overcame her fears and rejoined the feeding frenzy with the Ring-necked and Mallards. ( A pair of Buffleheads also joined in.)

DO NOT DISTURB - The Red-breasted Sapsucker paid no attention to me as it was busy getting its lunch at River's Edge.

THE GOLD STANDARD - You can always expect to see Gold-crowned Sparrows at San Pareil. There was about 12 in the flock that I was photographing.

BLACKBERRY BIRD - The blackberry and wild rose thickets at French Creek seemed to be buzzing with Bewick's Wrens. I could hear them all around but only one popped out for a distant picture.

FRIENDLY FOX - The Bewick's might have been shy, but the Fox Sparrow wasn't. It sat up close to me to see what I was up to then did some preening before it left.


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