ML611452502

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

lifer!!!! did not expect finding a lifer or fox sparrows here at all, but since it's a large overgrown field that seems like suitable sparrow habitat it's not totally unexpected. first detected by sound - I actually didn't know fox sparrow songs, but I heard an interesting sound while listening to other sparrows - a very musical, sweet tone, a bit warbling, that doesn't sound like a typical sparrow song at all, which often consists of buzzes and trills. A very pleasant song, but faint and distant, to the east of the field. I turned on sound ID to see if Merlin could pick it up, and it sure did - fox sparrow. when the bird popped up initially I was a bit skeptical since I thought it just picked it up from a call - since I didn't hear the song while merlin was operating (after reviewing later it was indeed recorded just that I didn't hear it at the time). at that time I didn't have bins or camera, and excited at the opportunity of finding a new sparrow (even though I was doubtful), I ran back to car to grab camera and tried to listen for the fox sparrows again. after not hearing them for a while, I really wanted to see them so i opened merlin and played a short segment of fox sparrow song (and we were in a hurry so couldn't stop for long, so this was the quickest method for me to try to see the birds). almost immediately I saw a sparrow pop up from the grasses in the distance - and without even looking I feel like that may be it, since usually when I play a song of a species, whatever bird comes up on a high perch to listen is usually that species. interestingly, before I even had to look through bins, the bird gave me song sparrow like impressions since its streaking and patterning was so bold, even through the bare eye more than 30 meters away. looking through bins could confirm it, and immediately took camera and took some shots. it turned out that there were at least 2 of them, since when I was taking photos a second bird came on the same perch. they stayed for about 5 seconds, before they left that perch. I looked through bins again since I thought they would be in the area, and I saw one fox sparrow again, but this time further away and obstructed by a branch. I wanted to get more photos but since it was so far away it was hard to focus, and the bird was angled so that I could only see its flanks (but that also allowed me to see its bold streaking well). after those birds disappeared I played some song again to see if they would come closer, and after each song one bird actually sang back, although in a slightly different song (maybe individual variation, or maybe I'm playing the song of the wrong subspecies, sooty, since that one was the first on the merlin list) but they didn't come closer. about 5 mins after I saw the first sparrow we left the overlook. quite a lucky encounter, love the looks of these sparrows and hope to see them more in the coming winter!!!

Technical information

Model

ILCE-7M3

Lens

100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS | Contemporary 020

ISO

2000

Focal length

364.2 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/500 sec

Dimensions

613 pixels x 719 pixels

Original file size

378.94 KB