NM - Harris's Sparrow - 02/02

This long staying Harris's Sparrow was discovered at the feeders of Bosque Del Apache Visitor Center some weeks before our Birdfinders tour group arrived in New Mexico. It certainly seemed to have become more aloof in the days preceding our visit but sharp-eyed tour particpants Barry Batchelor and John Rowe found it consorting with large numbers of White-crowned Sparrows in the main Visitor Center parking lot during an afternoon visit. Ironically, the bird showed brilliantly well for many at the Visitor Center feeders the very next morning after these images were taken! Somehow I preferred seeing the bird out in the Visitor Center parking lot - it was just a better, wilder experience.



Harris's Sparrow - Bosque Del Apache NWR, Socorro Co., NM. February 2nd, 2013. Digi-scoped using Panasonic Lumix FZ7 and Swarovski HD scope. On reflection, I realized that this was the first Harris's Sparrow that I'd ever seen on a Birdfinders tour despite averaging about twelve weeks of North American tours per year - a rare sparrow indeed.



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