Vancouver Lake

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a new sparrow. Certainly not for lack of trying. Since before the first of this year, I’ve looked for little brown birds with that extra bit of flair at several locations including Jackson Bottom, Fernhill Wetlands, Ridgefield NWR, Sauvie Island, and Vancouver Lake. But still no luck.

So when I saw White-throated Sparrows were a target species for one of Audubon’s free outings a couple of weeks ago I was pumped. We met early at Vancouver Lake on a day forecast for steady rain showers.

The lake waters started slow, a couple of Double-crested Cormorants flew by, and Cackling Geese flew overhead, and then things picked up with thousands of Snow Geese, multiple Sandhill Cranes, and a pair of Tundra Swans passing by above.

Walking along the trails increased our species sightings with Western Meadowlark, Fox Sparrows, White-breasted Nuthatch, Pacific Wren, Red-winged Blackbird, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, and American Kestrel. To name a few.

Walking back on the park roads that’s when the sparrow magic happened.

Not just a pile of leaves, there’s a White-Throated Sparrow in there!  There were a few hopping around and kicking leaves within the groups of Golden-Crowned Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos. Success! Sometimes it helps to have more eyes and a seasoned guide to find the bird.

Oddly, on this trip I took more pictures of people than birds even though we saw more than 50 species! It was not the greatest light conditions, but with no rain AND a new sparrow? I call that a good day.

Audrey