Rare bird sightings – Circadianreflections Blog

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Back in late January or early February I heard there was a White-throated Sparrow up in Carson City. This is a rare bird for Nevada. The map doesn’t show it ever being here rare.

I’d never seen one before so I began the hunt for it. I only had a general location of where it was so I was covering a very large area and staying for hours photographing every sparrow and bird I saw.

I was unsuccessful 6 times over the course of about 6 weeks.

All the while this bird was being seen and reported by one guy almost every day while myself, and my neighbor were not seeing it! I can tell you it was frustrating! During this period there was another one seen, photographed, and reported on the birding site ebird.org up in Reno!

So, my neighbor and I went up and spent hours looking for it but, no joy there either. Sigh.

Then on a tip from a fellow birder who had seen it a week before in Carson City told me the which area I should try looking. I went back last week and hung around the area he suggested and got lucky! 💃💃😀The 7th times the charm!

Fun Facts:

The White-throated Sparrow comes in two color forms: white-crowned and tan-crowned. The two forms are genetically determined, and they persist because individuals almost always mate with a bird of the opposite morph. Males of both color types prefer females with white stripes, but both kinds of females prefer tan-striped males. White-striped birds are more aggressive than tan-striped ones, and white-striped females may be able to outcompete their tan-striped sisters for tan-striped males.
Although they look nothing alike and aren’t particularly closely related, the White-throated Sparrow and the Dark-eyed Junco occasionally mate and produce hybrids. The resulting offspring look like grayish, dully marked White-throated Sparrows with white outer tail feathers.
White-throated Sparrows typically nest on or near the ground. Occasional nests are built up to 15 feet off the ground in conifers. Usually, these nests are second attempts after a pair has had a ground nest robbed by a predator.
The oldest recorded White-throated Sparrow was at least 14 years, 11 months old, when it was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Alberta.

I have been birding a lot so have lots of birds to share in the coming weeks.

I hope you all have a lovely week-end.

Nikon D850| Nikkor 500mm PF-e| PS CC 25.5.0

Fun Facts gleaned from allaboutbirds.org

more to come…

I met my friend Dali yesterday morning to do some local birding, but he said he’d read in a bird forum before leaving his house that there was a Vermilion Flycatcher in the area where we were last week-end birding in Sacramento Valley.

“Did I want to go look for that bird?” He asked.

“Oh yeah!” Was my reply. I had one errand to do in the opposite direction before I could leave for the 2.5 hour drive north.
I finished up my errand in record time. Thankfully there is very little traffic early Saturday mornings, then I met Dali again to head north to look for the Vermilion Flycatcher.

Vermilion Flycatcher-Male

We arrived at the spot that the bird had been seen hanging out and found a half dozen birders there observing the bird. We spent 30 minutes observing and photographing it before it flew off into a field and we lost sight of it.

Isn’t he beautiful! My Audubon Bird Field Guide says this bird’s “breeding range is Southeastern California east to western Texas and south to the tropics. Winters in southern part of breeding rage, but wanders as far east as Gulf Coast.”

It’s a resident of Southeast California, southwest Arizona, southern Texas, and Mexico. It Winters along the Gulf of Mexico’s coast.

Vermillion Flycatcher

We’re seeing this Vermilion Flycatcher in Sacramento Valley, California which is well to the north and west of its normal habitat! What a gift!!

This bird is a “lifer” for me! The definition of a “lifer” is, ” A bird species when it is first seen and positively identified by an individual birder. Generally birds must be observed in the wild, and in appropriate conditions to be added to one’s life list. Dead or captive birds are not usually counted as a “lifer”.

Vermilion Flycatcher-Male

“The bright colors of the male have earned it the Mexican name brasita de fuego, “little coal of fire.” ~ Audubon Bird Guide app for ios. I love that name don’t you?

I also saw a Bald Eagle, and a Juvenile Bald Eagle yesterday. It was a stellar day for birding!

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 200-500mm E ED VR| Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2015

More to come…

Tag: Rare bird sightings

Friday’s Feathered Friends-White-throated Sparrow

Vermilion Flycather-Male

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