Finally... a Photo of Our White-throated Sparrow!

Whatever I might have said about returning to photos taken in Panama and Costa Rica will have to wait for one more post from the yard.  Today I sucessfully, if somewhat crudely, photographed the White-throated sparrow that has been hanging out in the yard for the past couple of weeks. 

This morning I looked out the kitchen window and spied the White-throated sparrow... yet again.  Instead of trying to sneak out for a photo I decided to spread a little 'habitat enhancer' on the ground.  In doing so I noted that, for apparently the first time, the sparrow returned to the area while I was still out in the yard.  I viewed this as a good sign and went back in for my camera.

It was a cold morning with a nasty wind blowing, but I bundled up and waited in a chair directly under the kitchen window.  I waited... and waited... and waited and the sparrow wasn't showing although it certainly had a lot of encouragement from the other birds.  But I wasn't giving up and I finally glimpsed a promising prospect at the base of our pine tree.  I had been fooled before but this was indeed the White-throated sparrow.  I seemed to have a major problem though.  The sparrow was on the other side of a green wire ring used to protect one of our Japanese maples from the deer. 

In a timely coincidence, I have a 'depth of field' demonstation scheduled for the point and shoot camera class I teach this Thursday night.  I brought my long lens (200-400mm) to bear on the sparrow and sure enough, the green fencing vanished in the foreground!  I shot several photos before the sparrow disappeared and it never did come out in the open where I had planned to photograph it.  But I had my record photo of the White-throated sparrow in our yard! 

In a crowd, and especially in less than stellar light, the White-throated sparrow can fairly easily be mistaken for the White-crowned sparrow as both have similar crown patterns and  colors.  However this bird's head  stripes, which are normally white, are tinted an ever so subtle gold color.  It was the thing that drew me to this bird's identification in the first place.  In this photo you can clearly see the bright white throat patch and the yellow lores. 

Just for good measure I'm throwing in a couple of photos I took the previous day.  The first is of a female Varied thrush who has become addicted to sunflower seed over the past couple of weeks...

This second photo is of a Fox sparrow who is taking the opportunity for a bath in the cold, cold water at the head of our watercourse...