We are officially in our last phase of our southern migration. Not for a lack of effort, I’ve missed a few target birds that somehow managed escape The Beast. A few of those species appear to have headed north just a few days before we arrived at their wintering grounds (read Whooping Cranes and missed by less than 2 days). With a little luck we’ll be able to catch those escapees later in the year. I cannot complain too much as my annual species counts now sits at 268 with a good chance that number will edge up a bit more if the Warblers manage to make it across the Gulf tonight and visit us here at High Island. The first wave was hitting South Padre Island while we were down there last week. Hoping they’ll phone their relatives back home and give word that the bugs are a plenty. That would be an understatement for the horde of Mosquitoes we are currently battling. LBJs have an all new meaning – Liters of Blood Jettisoned – we’ve replaced the soap dish with Deet juice. While we try to defend against these needle-nosed bugger sorties, Brad is going to take the helm and bring you a more traditional meaning of the LBJ.
Take it away Brad…
This story is about another LBJ that was nearly overlooked. I’m learning to photograph everything; I can sort out duplicate photos later. Lightroom can help me sort and “fix” nearly 100% of the photos I take. However, even Lightroom can’t fix the pictures I don’t take. Future enhancement perhaps?
Jan and I had just been in Golden Gate Canyon State Park at Panorama Point seeing the Grey-headed Junco. The elevation at Panorama Point was over 9000 feet and rather chilly for April in Colorado. Two hours later we found ourselves at the more temperate Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge (RFNWR) at just under 6000 feet of elevation northwest of Denver.
Once I parked the car and opened the doors, we were hit with a blast of warm air. The outside air temp was nearly 80F, well above average for April in eastern Colorado we are told. This is the same parking lot where I saw the Western Meadowlark (here), and the Grackle (here). Lurking in the shadows of the tall grass was another LBJ.
Naturally, Jan started taking photos while I was still putting my camera together. Long time readers of Wildlife Intrigued are beginning to notice a pattern. While I’m readying my camera, Jan is already getting photographs for the next feature story. Besides, you never can tell when you need another LBJ photo to fill out a gallery or story.
Even at home on the big screen, this LBJ looked like many of the others we’ve photographed on our vacations. I was just about to give it the “just another sparrow (JAS)” moniker when I noticed the “V” pattern towards the back of its head, where I imagined its ear would be. Fortunately, Jan took enough photos from varying angles to be able to see the “V” clearly enough to differentiate it from other sparrows.
Mystery solVed, hit the jump for the reVeal!
The “V” helps identify this bird as a Vesper Sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus). The Vesper was moving around between the grass and the gravel parking lot. Before I could see the photos on the big screen, I thought it was just another sparrow like we have at home. Jan was happily clicking off photos as fast as her camera could flip the mirror and open the shutter (see notes).
I know, I know, I can hear some of you laughing through the screen. Being a relatively new birder, all LBJ’s look alike for the most part. And other than the “V”, and a few very distinct feather patterns, it looked like any other sparrow. The Song, Lark, and Savanna Sparrows all look similar. The Song Sparrow has more heavy streaking and a bit more contrasts in its colors. The Lark Sparrow is also similar but has a very strong eye stripe, plus some reddish/brown bits the Vesper does not have. The Savanna Sparrow is the most similar looking except for its yellow highlights over its eye, sort of like eye shadow on some middle-school girls. There are a few other differences between the Vesper and all of these sparrows, but these were the most helpful in identification. Of course, it may be a hybrid of all of the above, but I don’t think I’m lucky enough to find one of those . . . yet. I’m sticking with the Vesper designation. Astute Wildlife Intrigued readers can help educate me if I erred.
When I was reviewing the photos at home, I wasn’t convinced that it wasn’t JAS, so I set the photos aside to look at later. In Lightroom I assign a keyword of LBJ plus the date of the photo plus a sequence number. This helps me keep all of the unknown birds separate until I’m smart enough, or beg for enough help, to give the bird its proper name. This one had an LBJ assignment (aka. LBJ-04242023-01) for several weeks before I stumbled on the “V”. If the Vesper had been exhibiting any of its natural behaviors, identification may have been a bit easier. Actually, it was.
Vespers, sometimes called a Grass Finch in olden times, can usually be found in open grassy areas (check). They spend most of their time running around, hopping on the ground (check). Vespers can usually be found in mixed flocks of other sparrows (no photo evidence here). Vespers will scratch the ground to find seeds from grass, weeds, or grain crops (no photo evidence here). They also like to pick off spiders and insects from low plants during the breeding season.
Off the edge of the parking area, our subject found a friend. Or a rival, I really can’t tell from the photos after the fact.
A mated pair will nest on the ground in a shallow depression. Together they will raise 2-6 eggs up to three times per breeding season. Vesper Sparrow populations have declined an estimated 30% in the past 40 years, mostly due to grassland loss and removal of hedgerows.
I looked around for Jan to see if I could catch the same bird from a different angle, but she was gone again. Jan had already abandoned me in the parking lot to find more birds.
By the time I had my camera ready, Jan was already well down the first pebble path into the refuge. The Vesper had flown the coop. At least as far as I could see, or in this case, not see. The Vesper must have been annoyed by all of the paparazzi.
Thank you for reading. If you want to see more photos of the Vesper Sparrow, please visit here.
Credits
Thanks again to Jan and proofreading and editing. Thanks to Jan for all of the photos in this article.
Notes
Yes, we still use DSLR’s; I haven’t gone mirrorless yet. Something about all of the glass I already have for DSLR’s that would require an adapter to work with a mirrorless body. Actually it would be two adapters since both Jan and I are taking photos. Or I will have to replace all of my existing Nikon N-series glass with Z-series lenses. Even my generous salary and bonus structure from Wildlife Intrigued isn’t enough to make that feasible. Someday perhaps . . . However, if someone from Nikon wishes to sponsor the Photography department at Wildlife Intrigued, please contact our Legal Department.
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