Bird of the Day - White-Crowned Sparrow

Flying Circus Birds

From the Flying Circus Birders

The Flying Circus Birders is a gathering of people interested in enjoying and exploring the natural history of Boulder County, CO. We are open to all and meet every week year-round and are often led by Ringmaster Steve Frye. Please join us some time! Sign up for this newsletter by using the Postings Button below.

"If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.”

- Vincent Van Gogh

Flying Circus Birders

February 3, 2024. Cloudy and rainy. 35 F. 2-6 mph.

3 participants

It was a soggy one this morning. Imagine if it would have been snow! We would really have been die-hard birders then. The waterfowl put on a good show today. What do they care if its raining, they live in the water. All the other birds were a little harder to find.

See all of the Great Images from the Walk!

Photo Gallery

This week we have 40 images in our gallery!

Please Note - The gallery images are collected from many dedicated bird photographers. Photographers are listed in the text when you click on an image.

White-Crowned Sparrow © Steve Frye

Bird of the Day - White-Crowned Sparrow

I always think of winter sparrows as social, mixed in with other sparrows, like when we saw our Bird of the Day, the white-crowned sparrow, together with some American Tree Sparrows today. However, as spring approaches they get a little feistier and more territorial. You can see a lot of good sparrow fights and threats in the coming months. On their nesting grounds, white-crowned sparrows seem to tolerate fox sparrows in close proximity, but they are very aggressive toward dark-eyed juncos and chipping sparrows nesting nearby. I guess all sparrows are not alike in the eyes of white-crowned sparrows.

Learn more about the Bird of the Day by going to All About Birds from the

Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology

Hear the sounds of our Bird of the Day at the Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds

More Images from the Walks

Just click on the image to see a larger version!

Hooded Mergansers © Steve Frye

American Kestrel © Clark Anderson

Great Blue Heron © Jane Baryames

Ring-Necked Duck © Steve Frye

"An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day"

-- Henry David Thoreau

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See more images of our

Bird of the Day from past walks

Flickr

Visit our website boulderbirdwalks.org

Also Seen on the Bird Walk

Cattails © Steve Frye

White-Tailed Deer © Steve Frye

Bird Walk History - What Happened 5 Years Ago?

Bird Blast from the Past

What's all this then

The Flying Circus Birders meet every Saturday for our adventures, leaving promptly at 7:30 am and returning about 10:30 am (times differ in winter and summer). Destinations are announced in Friday evening emails, no reservations are required. See the postings button above to sign up for the newsletter and destination emails. All ages and experience levels welcome. Please come ready to have fun, dressed for conditions and with optics, if you have them. Within reason, we go out every Saturday because that is just the kind of people we are.

Send in those Images !

Please share your images from the Saturday walk by emailing them to [email protected]. If possible, send images as jpegs from 300k to 5mb in size. Thank you for sharing and please include your name and date taken.

eBird - Real Time Bird Sightings for Boulder County

Today's Bird List

Pella Crossing Open Space, Boulder, Colorado, US

Feb 3, 2024. 8:25 AM - 10:00 AM

Protocol: Traveling 2.0 mile(s)

26 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose 12

American Wigeon 40

Mallard 2

Redhead 20

Ring-necked Duck 20

Common Goldeneye 1

Hooded Merganser 30

Common Merganser 20

Pied-billed Grebe 1

Eurasian Collared-Dove 2

American Coot 20

Ring-billed Gull 2

Great Blue Heron 1

Bald Eagle 3

Red-tailed Hawk 1

Red-tailed Hawk (Harlan's) 1

Northern Flicker 1

American Kestrel 1

Blue Jay 2

Common Raven 2

Black-capped Chickadee 2

European Starling 1

American Robin 2

House Finch 4

American Tree Sparrow 2

White-crowned Sparrow 2, see Bird of the Day

Red-winged Blackbird 4

Birds with bold listings are an indication of rarity, high numbers, good observation opportunity, or interesting behavior exhibited.