Sparrow Season!

11/7/2025

It was a bit of a shortened sparrow season this year. As another birder put it, "life happens". I had just got back from South Africa and then I found myself heading to Kansas for non-birding things. That was followed by a weekend-wrecking social engagement. Things were working against me. The good news, is that I made it out.

Before sparrow season though, there was the great "catching-up". Of course, you cannot catch-up on migration. I had missed most of it. I was enviously looking at photos from back home while I was in South Africa. It is a bit of a vice. Now that I was home, I was just hoping to catch some of the later migrants. I headed out a few times but only had middling luck. I had one good weekend at Eagle Creek Park. I stumbled across an active flock of migrants that were feeding off of small moths that were flying up out of the grass. There were some Yellow-rumped Warblers, of course. I had a few Black-and-white Warblers, though. Surprisingly, I saw both Scarlet and Summer Tanager. The Summer was a beautiful orangey-cinnamon color. Best of all, one of my favorite birds was there - Blue-headed Vireo. The bird is striking. I had Nashville, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Palm, and Tennessee Warblers, but I could not get photos of any. I saw one Wilson's Warbler, but it was high in the trees. The best and shortest sighting was a fleeting glimpse of a Connecticut Warbler as it popped up in a small window to see what all the pishing was about. The weekend ended with my first Golden-crowned Kinglets and Red-breasted Nuthatch of the season. With that, I knew it was time to move on to sparrows.

Black-and-white Warbler

Northern Flicker

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Blue-headed Vireo

My sparrow season started with a trip to Lye Creek (The Burn). Shari has done an amazing job managing the place, and it has always been a great place for sparrows. With the feeding station Shari maintains, it has gotten even better.

I arrived right at sunrise. It appeared there had been a small fallout of sparrows. They were everywhere. I was seeing a lot of Lincoln's Sparrow. They are sharp-looking sparrows, and I love seeing them. Mixed in were a lot of Palm Warbler and some Common Yellowthroat. There were, of course, a lot of Song Sparrows, too. I slowly walked the trail back, and then Shari arrived. We talked for a minute, and then I wandered down to meet her at the feeding area. It was good to talk to her. She has made the place inviting and easy to relax and shoot. I really should spend more time here. The bird of the morning was a molting Indigo Bunting. The photos look like there might be two different birds? Anyway, the patchwork brown and iridescent blue looked amazing. The bird(s) came in for a bath, and that opened the door for some other birds to come join the fun. While shooting birds at the bath, we had two flycatchers come in and perch: Eastern Phoebe and Eastern Wood-Pewee. They perched in the light in front of a dark area, and it made for some interesting shots.

Palm Warbler

Lincoln's Sparrow

Common Yellowthroat

Lincoln's Sparrow

Lincoln's Sparrow

House Finch

Lincoln's Sparrow

Eastern Phoebe

Indigo Bunting

Indigo Bunting

Indigo Bunting

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Indigo Bunting

Lincoln's Sparrow

Lincoln's Sparrow

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Normally, I would be heading to Goose Pond after this, but, as noted, I had some interruptions. It was mid-October by the time I got to Goose Pond for my annual trip. It turned out to be my only trip this year. I am not sure when that last happened.

I got to Goose Pond early. Super early. Like, I went ahead and stopped for donuts early. I still spent 15 - 20 minutes sitting in my car waiting for it to get lighter. The day was overcast, and the light was taking its time. I started my usual walk and was not having much luck. There were Swamp Sparrows everywhere, but none would perch up when I pished for them. I walked a long way before I got my first shot of the morning. The White-crowned Sparrows were back. I saw a couple of non-cooperative Lincoln's Sparrows. I had one or two Savannah and Song Sparrows. By the time I hit the end of the road, I did not have a lot to show for my morning.

Swamp Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

I normally do not walk the dikes during hunting season. I do not want to disturb the hunters. Goose Pond exists because of them. It seems only right to give them some space. The immediate area where I was was not being hunted though. I wanted more photos for the day and carefully walked out to the dike. Luckily, I ran into Patricia Rettig, and she told me where I could look for LeConte's and Nelson's Sparrow that had been reported over the past week. She had briefly seen the Nelson's that morning, but the LeConte's had not been found the day prior. I pulled up some eBird reports and headed off. As I passed her, Patricia decided to join me.

It was a bit of a joint effort to find the LeConte's. We walked into a patch of bluestem that I had actually walked past earlier. I was pishing away and checking the area about 15 foot away from her when Patricia called me over. She had just seen the bird. Over the next 10 - 15 minutes, we watched the bird as it moved around and fed in the tall grasses. A lot of time, the bird was obscured, but it came into the open a few times. We scrunched and twisted to find small windows to shoot through. The grasses had been trampled down in spots, and the bird got down on the ground and crawled around like a little brown-and-orange mouse as if fed on seeds.

LeConte's Sparrow

LeConte's Sparrow

LeConte's Sparrow

LeConte's Sparrow

LeConte's Sparrow

LeConte's Sparrow

Encouraged by our luck, Patricia led us back to where the Nelson's had been seen. We checked the stand of cattails for a while but were not having much luck. I finally started to walk back to where the LeConte's was. I ran across a lot of perched sparrows along the way and got quite distracted. White-crowned and Savannah were unusually cooperative. Unusually - not overly.

White-crowned Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Suddenly Patricia was back, and she has a photo over her lifer Nelson's. Of course, now I wanted to go back. I wandered back to where she had located the bird and started pishing. The bird came in from my right but was flighty and would not come forward. I stepped toward it, and it bombed back in for cover. Then, it flew right out into a small patch of weeds right in the open. It was at the base of the plants and on the backside. I could just see it moving. I just had to wait for it to pop up out of the cover... and then it was gone? I had looked away for a split second, and it apparently flew during that moment. I not-so-quickly realized I was staring at a small patch of weeds with nothing in it. I slowly approached and peaked around it. Nothing. I did not relocate the bird.

Nelson's Sparrow

Nelson's Sparrow

Nelson's Sparrow

Nelson's Sparrow

The morning had brightened a little, then grew more overcast. It rained lightly. It cleared up. By this point, it was raining a little more steadily, but not too hard. I figured I had had a pretty good morning and started the trek back to the car. Next year, I am parking closer. A big thanks to Patricia for making this trip successful.

That concludes this year's sparrow season. It was a bit less birding than I normally do, but I was able to see LeConte's again. I was also very excited about the Nelson's. It has been a long time since I have seen one. From here, winter birding kicks up. I look forward to finding some Fox Sparrows to shoot.

Thanks for reading,

Mike