I was a little surprised to see three Golden-crowned Sparrows fly into the blueberry bush in our yard and start eating the flowers. At first I didn’t realize that’s what they were doing, but I got my binoculars out and was able to clearly see one eating a flower.

Made a quick trip to the park later this afternoon. It was a bit blustery with winds seeming to be out of the west or maybe southwest. Not too much going on – I heard some shorebirds and saw them in the distance, but didn’t get a good look at them. Connor spotted a Merlin in a spruce tree and pointed it out to me. I heard what I think was a Ruby-crowned Kinglet alarming at it. The alarming stopped as soon as the Merlin flew off. Connor and I both had turns being startled by a couple of snipe that were along the grassy margin to the beach by the battle site bench. There were few ducks, though I did notice one Northern Pintail. Also of interest was a Pigeon Guillemot not too far off the beach.

A fairly full day didn’t see me spend much time outside. It was mostly cloudy or overcast throughout the day, and we even got a bit of light rain, our first in a week or so, but only just enough to make the ground wet. I stepped outside this evening and snapped a photo of the Verstovia with the clouds nearly gone from the peak. I also took pictures of two of the several sparrows that continue to hangout among the crab pots in the neighbor’s yard.

I suspect the Song Sparrow(s) that have been there recently are first year birds or females. I have heard one singing, but not the full-on songs from a prominent perch like I’ve been hearing elsewhere in the neighborhood and beyond. The singing has been a more continuous sort – maybe a whisper song? Though it’s quieter than the regular songs, it’s not exactly a whisper. I’m not sure how quiet whisper songs typically are, though. Maybe stage whispers count.

Speaking of Song Sparrows, I checked on my observations for the year and I’m up to 149. Well short of the pace for 1000 by year’s end, but the pace has picked up in the last couple of weeks with all the singing birds. No doubt things will slow down dramatically by late fall, so if I have a hope of getting to my target, I’ll need to get a lot of observations in over the next few months. I started a map with notes on the Song Sparrows I’ve been observing and have been updating it regularly.

Song Sparrow Map

On the 1000 species front, I probably have a similar number so far, but I’ve not been keeping careful count yet, and have many observations (with photos) I need to get recorded.

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The clouds were breaking up over Verstovia when I looked out this evening.

I think this Golden-crowned Sparrow is a first year bird. It may be the one that has been singing frequently for several days.

Two of the sparrows that have been hanging out in the neighborhood recently.

First year White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows have been wintering in the neighborhood.

First year White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows have been wintering in the neighborhood.

These two sparrows posed nicely for comparing the differences between first year Golden-crowned Sparrow and White-crowned Sparrow. The differences seem obvious to me now, but I remember the first time I found White-crowned Sparrows I had a hard time figuring out how to distinguish them from Golden-crowned Sparrows.

Observed with 2 Golden-crowned Sparrows 19 October 2007 at Moller Park track. All were actively foraging on the gravel track.

Today’s American Tree Sparrow was a new Sitka area bird for me. I probably would not have seen it, except I stopped to watch two Golden-crowned Sparrows feeding along Moller Track. They went up into the trees at the edge of the track and as I waited, they appeared again with a third bird, the American Tree Sparrow.

For more photos and additional information about American Tree Sparrows in Sitka, see, Sitka Birds: American Tree Sparrow.