Mystery sparrow seen in early August in the Subalpine.

In August I got a brief look at the sparrow shown above. As best I can figure, it’s a Savannah Sparrow, though it really does look fairly different than the Savannah Sparrows I am used to seeing around here. The pattern of markings seems correct for Savannah Sparrow, it’s just the coloring that appears darker, and much less yellow than I am used to seeing. Also, I saw it above the treeline, whereas I generally see Savannah Sparrows on lawns or the beach.

I’ve included below photos of typical fall Savannah Sparrows that I’ve taken around Sitka, as well as the two shots I got of the mystery sparrow.

Update: The first couple of responses I received suggested I consider Lincoln’s Sparrow. I had not looked specifically at Lincoln’s Sparrow because that’s a bird I felt familiar with, but upon looking a little more closely, I can see some resemblance. The two main problems I have are the lack of buffy coloration, particularly on the malar. What buffiness the mystery sparrow has is on the auriculars (I think I’m using the terminology correctly). Also, the mystery sparrow does not seem to have a streaked throat, which Sibley’s suggests they usually have. Another difficulty is that I’ve never seen a Lincoln’s Sparrow at upper elevations around here. That does not mean they don’t get up there, but so far, in my experience, I’ve only found them at lower elevations.

I had an early afternoon basketball game today, and on the way home I stopped by Swan Lake to spend a little time watching. Later in the afternoon, Connor, Rowan and I went for a walk down to Totem Park.

Weather: It was a cool day with some rain in the morning. Mostly cloudy skies with a little bit of clearing in the afternoon. Winds were light.

Birds: At Swan Lake there were 4 Northern Shovelers, 6 American Wigeons, 1 Hooded Merganser, 5 Scaup (probably Lesser), 1 or more Green-winged Teal, and the Cackling Goose (in addition to the assorted Mallards that are typically there).

While I was sitting at the lake, I happened to notice two Ravens fly over the lake (from the Southwest toward the Northeast), the second starting across just after the first one had moved beyond it. This would not be particularly remarkable except for what I saw each raven do as it flew over. As the first one was flying over the lake, I heard it make a two note (higher-lower) call with a partial roll. It did this two or three times while it was over the lake, but once it was beyond the lake, I did not see it do it again, though it was still in view for a few seconds (the time between these actions while over the lake was only a second or two). The second raven, following shortly after the first one made a different call (more of a typical caw), but executed what appeared to me to be the same style of partial roll while flying over the lake. I also did not see it do this once it moved beyond the lake. I am at a loss as to why these birds might have done that, though it seemed to me to be some sort of acknowledgement of the lake (though what that might mean, if anything, I don’t know).

From Totem Park I could see at least a dozen (presumed) Fork-tailed Storm-petrels across the bay in front of Turning Island. The weather was calm, and I was tempted to go kayaking to get better views, but it was getting too close to dark by the time we got home.

At the park we saw a couple of Mallards in the Visitor’s Center tidepool, with many more around at the river mouth. I think I saw a Northern Pintail at the river mouth as well, though I am not sure.

We saw scattered gulls, with one flock out on the flats closer to the Visitor’s Center, but more out near the river mouth and in the estuary. I saw all 5 species, with Thayer’s Gulls seeming to be the most numerous, followed by Glaucous-winged Gulls, Black-legged Kittiwakes, Mew Gulls, and just a few Herring Gulls.

There were lots of Harlequins off shore from the river mouth.

At the upper part of the beach there were Savannah Sparrows and an American Pipit or two.

I heard some Black Turnstones, but didn’t investigate to see how many there were.

There was a Winter Wren right by the trail where we get back on it at the end of the park.

We saw one or two Great-blue Herons in the tidepools (probably two, but it’s possible it was just one that moved while we were on the trail in the woods).

There was a small flock of Chestnut-backed Chickadees near family housing when we were walking back.

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Yesterday I did not feel all that great after a relatively poor night of sleep, though I did stop by Swan Lake briefly and get out on a walk to the park with Connor.

Today I stopped by Swan Lake this morning after dropping Connor off at school. I also stopped by Centennial Building and to look around on my way home. Late this morning I took advantage of pleasant weather to go for a walk to Totem Park.

Weather: Yesterday was rainy and a bit breezy. Snow level dropped to about 2900 feet or so. Today it started out overcast, but became partly cloudy for much of the late morning and early afternoon. Clouds moved in again later in the afternoon, though I did not notice any rain. This evening after sunset there were clear skies over town. The temperature this morning was near 40, and the snow level behind town was probably around 2700 feet. Mt. Edgecumbe was mostly covered in clouds when I looked, but what I could see through the breaks appeared to have no snow, despite the crater rim’s elevation being between 2800 and 3200 feet in elevation. Perhaps the far side (which is the higher part) had snow, or it was just warmer out there.

Birds: Yesterday the two scaups were still at Swan Lake. I also saw three American Wigeons, and the Cackling Goose. At Totem Park we noted the Ruddy Turnstone, American Pipits, Savannah Sparrows and the Spotted Sandpiper.

This morning at Swan Lake I saw two American Wigeons, two Greater Scaups, a Hooded Merganser (on the HPR side of the lake), and the Cackling Goose.

On the rocks near the Crescent Harbor boat ramp, there were quite a few Black Turnstones and Surfbirds. They alternated between the rocks just inside the breakwater, the rocks on the outside of the breakwater, and the rocks across the Kettleson Library cove. There were probably more than 100 birds in total, with most of them Black Turnstones. I saw perhaps 10 Surfbirds.

As I was leaving the house for my walk, I noticed two Song Sparrows singing back and forth. One was by Austin House, the other in the large elderberry just down the drive. I think the sunshine brought out the urge to sing, as I heard more Song Sparrows singing down along the beach also.

There were quite a few Black Turnstones and a few gulls at Sage Beach. There were also several Harlequin Ducks.

I think I saw a couple of Red-necked Grebes out in Crescent Bay.

There was a Hermit Thrush along the beach at the same place where one seemed to join me for a time on my walk a couple of days ago. A little further up the beach I saw two more Hermit Thrushes. Later I also saw another Hermit Thrush in the woods near the trail as it nears the bridge across the river.

There were quite a few Savannah Sparrows and not quite as many Song Sparrows scatter about foraging at the upper part of the beach.

I do not know if it’s coincidental timing or not, but the number of gulls at Totem Park has been much less in the few days since I saw the goshawk kill the gull. At first I thought it might be because I was visiting at high tides, but today the tide was out a bit and there were still far fewer gulls. There are fewer salmon carcasses on the beach, but most of the gulls on the beach before were not eating at the time anyway. Today I saw perhaps a couple of hundred gulls in 2 or 3 flocks at different places on the tide flats. I saw some Black-legged Kittiwakes out from the beach between the Battlesite and the River Mouth.

At the river mouth there were 50+ Harlequin Ducks, 5 Northern Pintails, a Green-winged Teal, several Mallards, 4 Barrow’s Goldeneye, and around 15 Surf Scoters. The goldeneyes were the first I have seen this fall. Six Common Mergansers flew up to the river while I was watching, but by the time I got up there, I only saw 2 diving at the lower part of the estuary. I was interested to see a Northern Pintail diving with them. I think of pintails as dabbling ducks, so it was strange to see this one diving, presumably for salmon eggs. It seemed to require more effort to get underwater than the mergansers did.

There were quite a few gulls in the estuary and river, but still not as many as I had seen last week and before.

On my walk around the flats I also saw several Pelagic Cormorants and I think one Double-crested Cormorant.

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