Wednesday October 7th

Wednesday birdwalk. Lynn's back from her vacation trip to Germany, but Nick has gone back to Peabody's main campus, so today's walk was just Lynn and me. Today dawned gray with heavy rain - so we thought there would be no birdwalk, but instead, very blustery winds blew the storm through, and we spent fifteen minutes looking at sparrows in the grassy-brushy areas near one of West Campus' big parking lots. Many Song Sparrows, a few White-throated Sparrows, several American Robins enjoying ripe fruit in the Autumn Olive bushes, a Chipping Sparrow, which may yet turn into a Field Sparrow (I'll keep you posted). Small flock of Herring Gulls keeping company with our resident Canada Geese, four Rock Pigeons breezed through, Bluejays called from the woods - and I'm leading up to my bird-of-the-day - a lifer for me - a White-crowned Sparrow. For those of you who may be non-birders, a lifer is a bird for my "life-list", or if a list is not actually kept, it is the first time I've seen this bird. This photo again, taken from the web. These birds are residents of the western states, but not uncommonly seen in the east. This bird was photographed in Connecticut.