Thursday, May 10, 2018

Savannah Sparrow

Yesterday morning, after feeling very pleased to have seen a Pine Siskin in our feeder area; I went out with my camera hoping to see an interesting, not yet seen bird by me this spring.. Due to recent flooding I am unable to go to my usual favourite birding spots , so I was driving along a road with a view to the river  below.  I had stopped by a bush and noticed what I thought was a sparrow in its branches.,

The bird did not move or immediately fly away, so I thought why not take its picture? I thought, with a photo I might be able to make an id when downloading.
I was able to get a few profile shots of its head and I noticed a bit of yellow colour through my camera lens.  How exciting!, Maybe a new bird viewing  that I hadn't yet experienced this spring! I thought of the possibilities.  Maybe a Savannah Sparrow? which exhibits lovely yellow lores.. A White-throated Spararow also has beautiful yellow lores but I knew that this wasn't a White throated.  My thumbnail photos seemed to present a bird with an excess of yellow on its face which confused us for a while,, but when fully downloaded the bird appeared to have a very thick yellow lore. I checked out Savannah Sparrow in our Sibley's field guide, reading that a Savannah has a white median stripe on its head.  My pictures did not include aview of the top of the bird's head, however , it definitely had yellow lures so I am taking a chance on id..ing this bird in the photo as a Savannah Sparrow!

                                                                      What do you think?
Hopefully I will find another interesting bird to take a picture of this morning when I go out, but my goal today  is to find and take a picture of a blossoming Dog- toothed violet. We had seen two unopened blossoms one day last week and assume they will be in their open beauty by this morning.  If so, pictures will be posted here tomorrow.  Have a wonderful sunshiny today folks. 

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