Tuesday, May 03, 2016

Harris's Sparrow





Sunday morning, I got an unusual visitor to my bird feeder.  This Harris's Sparrow popped up as I was making breakfast.  I did a double take.  (Momentarily forgetting about the oatmeal boiling on the stove.)  I mentally reviewed the reasons that this was not a male House Sparrow.  (Primarily, the black cap, among other characteristics.)  Then I tried to snap pictures with my cell phone, with no luck.  Then I tried take photos with Joy's camera, but the flash kept going off, and I was in no state to figure out how to change the settings with this bird sitting there.  Of course, the bird was gone, and I was let with awful pictures and a memory.  I went to get my good camera, in case it came back.  Then it did, and I unloaded a photo barrage on it.  The lighting is bad, but I'll take it.  It was quite a prize for a feeder and yard bird.  The Harris's Sparrow winters in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and migrates north to the tundra.  I don't know how one ended up here.  There are occasional Indiana records.  Check out their range on EBird.  

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