This weekend was one of the few times I’ve actually seen a Vesper Sparrow, instead of only hearing it singing its distinctive song of whistles, trill, and buzz.
As you can tell from my photo of the half-obscured bird, it’s not one of my better photos.
I could barely make out the large sparrow with thin white eyering, short bill, crisp brown streaks on its breast, and long tail in the mass of green leaves.
For years, I’ve heard Vesper Sparrows singing along roadsides, in grasslands and fields.
And watched them fly across fields at dusk.
But I’ve never seen a Vesper Sparrow up close. Or relatively close.
Until this weekend.
While I was out birding in early afternoon, I saw a brown sparrow fly into a rather short tree, and start singing.
I immediately recognized the Vesper Sparrow song and started scanning the top of the tree where the bird flew in.
When I found it perched on a branch, I quickly took a few photos.
The bird took a short flight to another branch where I was able to get, yes, yet another half-obscured photo as the bird was singing.
And then it flew off in the distance.
One of these days I hope to see the whole bird!
