Late Winter Savannah Sparrow - 14 Jan 2025
This afternoon I took a drive down to the Antenna Farm and Haggerman Road to look for Short-eared Owls. It was cold (19F) and mostly cloudy with scattered snow squalls so I was hoping that the owls would be fooled enough to come out early.
Parking on the side of Haggerman across from the fence line I sat in the car and scanned the area with binoculars as snow flurries fell and covered the windshield. A couple of small passerines caught my eye in the field inside of the fence but was unable to make them out. They then flew toward me and landed in the road right behind my car. Since there was nothing else going on I got out to scan the birds behind the car.
A pair of the birds turned out to be American Tree Sparrows.
The third bird showed streaking on the flanks and I immediately presumed Song Sparrow. But the tail was short and my view was not good due to the dark lighting. So I put the Sony a1 and 600/4 lens on it and took some photos of it so that I could blow up pics and see if I could verify ID.
I was pleasantly surprised to see the yellow lore of a Savannah Sparrow!
A very nice late winter record as they are usually far south at this time.
Antenna Farm, Monroe, Michigan, US
Jan 14, 2025 3:43 PM - 4:51 PM
Protocol: Traveling
8.653 mile(s)
Checklist Comments: Cloudy, partly sunny, snow squalls, 19F. 3” snow on ground.
7 species
Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius) 2
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) 4
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 1
Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) 4 Pics. Came out before sunset and foraging.
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) 1
American Tree Sparrow (Spizelloides arborea) 3
Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) 1 Feeding among 3 Tree Sparrows next to road and car. Clean breast and streaking with yellow lores. Pics.
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S2
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)
Jan 14, 2025 3:43 PM - 4:51 PM
Protocol: Traveling
8.653 mile(s)
Checklist Comments: Cloudy, partly sunny, snow squalls, 19F. 3” snow on ground.
7 species
Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius) 2
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) 4
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 1
Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) 4 Pics. Came out before sunset and foraging.
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) 1
American Tree Sparrow (Spizelloides arborea) 3
Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) 1 Feeding among 3 Tree Sparrows next to road and car. Clean breast and streaking with yellow lores. Pics.
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S2
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)
