May 13 - A Birthday Life Bird

The day dawned mostly clear and 43º, which was nice after all the rain the last couple of days.  This is my Sixty-fourth Birthday, and I need no presents (too many possessions already) or feasts (still trying to keep the weight down).  I do appreciate all the well-wishings from my friends and family, and am hoping for a “Life Bird” as a blessing on this day.

I left Princeton to the south on Highway 26, and stopped at the Hennepin Canal Parkway Trail south of I-180.  This is one of the old tow-boat canals that used to move all of the commerce of the nation, long before the Interstate Highway system.  On a whim, I thought that I might find a Eurasian Tree Sparrow in the neighborhood, and it was still early enough in the morning that the small birds were flitting about.  But, I only found the House Sparrows under the bridge.

Male House Sparrow

Most of us are familiar with the “English” sparrow, which is native to Eurasia, the Middle East and North Africa.

With respect to North America, eight pairs of House Sparrows were released in the spring of 1851 in Brooklyn, New York by Eugene Schieffelin – a member of the American Acclimatization Society.  The species was also introduced between 1872 and 1874 by the Cincinnati Acclimatization Society.   Numerous similar introductions occurred in the years following the first release in 1851, and small numbers were collected within this country and transported to other parts of the country, resulting in house sparrows being established throughout the lower 48 states.

House Sparrows are messy nesters

House sparrows were established in Oregon by 1889, in Washington State by the 1890s, and California by 1910.  The release of this species into North America was only slightly less successful than the release of European Starlings by Eugene Schieffelin.

House Sparrows are the common ‘city’ sparrow, and are often found around farm yards as well.  The male is actually pretty handsome, with his gray cap and black bib.  The Eurasian Tree Sparrow has a brown cap and a smaller bib, but all the birds I saw here were the usual House Sparrows.

"We hear the note of a stranger bird

 That ne'er till now in our land was heard;

 A wingèd settler has taken his place

 With Teutons and man of the Celtic race;

 He has followed their path to our hemisphere -
 The Old-World Sparrow at last is here."

   - Roslyn, 1859

There were LOTS of warblers in the trees along the Hennepin Canal, mostly Yellow Warblers and American Redstarts.

I don't know why the female Redstarts aren't called "Yellowstarts" . . .

 . . . because only the males have the red coloring in their 'starts'

I looked on the eBird website, and saw that there was a spot near Putnam where the Tree Sparrows had been seen, so drove down to the corner of County Roads 13 and 500 North.  As I braked for the stop sign, I saw a bird carrying nesting material into a hole in some irrigation machinery, and put the binoculars on it to discover that it was, indeed, my ABA “Lifer” No. 602 – the Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

This species can be distinguished by his brown cap and a dark spot on his cheek.

I watched the sparrows where I first found them, and then drove a ways up & down the 500 Road, seeing a few others at feeders by some of the farm houses.  The House Sparrows joined the Tree Sparrows to exploit that bounty.

Female House Sparrow

En route to the east, I noted that a lot of the corn and soybean fields were either wet or under water.  There has been a lot of rain and flooding here in the Midwest, and farmers are ‘way behind in getting their fields worked and planted.  That, combined with the Trump Tariffs, will contribute to another year of poor profits, and more farm foreclosures.

It's May - this field should be tilled and planted already . . .

I made a long drive across Illinois and Indiana, cut south of Toledo, and arrived at my goal - the Maumee Bay State Park, where Shep Thorp had reserved a couple of cabins for the week to host birders from Washington State to Philadelphia.  These are great people, and we enjoyed visiting and listening to the Woodcocks “peenting” behind the cabins this evening.

Turtles at the Hennepin Canal

Hennepin Canal eBird Checklist is Here

Putnam, Illinois farms eBird Checklist is Here

Maumee Bay State Park eBird Checklist is Here