Spring is bringing to us delightful surprises in the Avian world, which never seems to fail us, the other day being a good example. I did my usual cursory glance out of our back patio window, to see if the Bluebirds had returned yet, not really expecting to see anything and I wasn’t wrong in my assessment, in that respect. However, I noticed, to the back in our back-yard, a bird perching in one of our Maple trees. At first, I thought that it was a Robin, but just to be sure I got my trusty camera, with its telephoto lens, and zoomed in on it! Wow! It wasn’t a Robin but it was a bird of a very similar size, but of a totally different nature , a Sparrow Hawk, also known as an American Kestrel! What a surprise, having never spotted one before in our garden, although they obviously must pass through at times, but quite surreptitiously, not wishing to draw attention to themselves, in their quest for smaller birds for food! In the fleeting moments that I got to look at it, I got a couple of pictures and one as it took off and flew away.
Having seen the “Hunter”, later on I was to get to see a couple of varieties of its potential “prey”, but excitingly, not the more common kind, at least not in our garden! The first one was “ground feeding” and gave itself away with a sighting of its white and black striped head. Of course, my first thought was of a WhiteCrowned Sparrow, but then it turned and really revealed its identity, by displaying the two yellow facial eye spots on either side of its upper beak and its prominent white throat, making it a White-Throated Sparrow instead.
These two bird sightings were not the climax to my bird day, because as the day drew to a close, another movement on the bird seed scattered ground immediately surrounding one of my front feeders drew my attention to it, for it was being scuffed up quite vigorously by another Sparrow coloured bird. What was this lively bird, busily using both of its feet at once to scuff up the ground for food, and what a job it was doing too! Well, once again, its colours gave it away. The rufous (fox) colour in its feathers, particularly the tail ones, made its identification reasonably easy. Yes, it was a Fox Sparrow and what a lovely bird it was as it busied itself, making my day which was slowly coming to a close andwhatawaytoendit too! I hope that you too, are having some pleasant bird surprises, as you look out of your windows into your gardens.
Stay safe and well, Cheers,
John Baldwin
