May 7, 2017 - Chasing a "Lifer"

Birders keep all kinds of records about the birds they see. The full list of all the bird species they have seen is called their life list. When they see a new species, they often say they have a “lifer.” Over the last couple of weeks, I made three trips to Two Harbors, Minnesota, trying to see a Eurasian Tree Sparrow which would be a lifer for me. Each time I spent several hours watching for the bird, and on the third try, I finally saw it. However, I didn’t get a photo because a school bus scared it away. A Eurasian Tree Sparrow looks a lot like this very common bird, a House Sparrow, which I also saw in Two Harbors. The difference is the Eurasian Tree Sparrow has a full rusty cap and a black spot on its cheek.

SparrowHouseTwoHarbors20170421

Someone in Two Harbors is a bird lover because I saw him spreading seed under a tree right in the downtown area. This attracts lots of birds including many different kinds of sparrows. This is an American Tree Sparrow. Notice the bi-colored bill (black on the upper, yellow on the lower), and the dark spot on its chest.

SparrowAmericanTreeeatingTwoHarbors20170429

I saw several Savannah Sparrows. The yellow eyebrow stripe is diagnostic for this species.

SparrowSavannahTwoHarbors20170429

This is a Song Sparrow.

SparrowSongTwoHarbors20170429

One White-crowned Sparrow showed up on my last visit.

SparrowWhitecrownedTwoHarbors20170505

I think the White-throated Sparrow is one of our prettiest sparrows. Several of them stopped by to eat.

SparrowWhitethroatedTwoHarbors20170429

This juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker also joined the crowd.

SapsuckerYellowbelliedjuvTwoHarbors20170429

An adult sapsucker was also there. The sapsuckers weren’t after the seed on the ground, however. They were drinking sap from the holes they drilled in the bark of this tree. You can see some of the holes in this photo.

SapsuckerYellowbelliedTwoHarbors20170429

A bonus sighting was this leucistic Dark-eyed Junco on the left. A normal plumaged junco is on the right for comparison. Leucistic means that the bird has some white feathers where it would normally have dark feathers.

JuncoLeucisticandnormalTwoHaaarborscomposite

I also checked out the boat landing in Two Harbors. This Voyager statue is well “decorated” from the many gulls that land on its head.

VoyageurStatuewithRingbilledGullTwoHarbors20170421