By The Throat! #115

The Beach City Dam has some surprisingly nice areas to bird watch. Recent improvement to the dam has left several small trails cut through the wooded area downstream from the dam dike. It was just a short time ago that I tried birding there for the first time and had several run-ins with Warblers and a fantastic view of a Winter Wren. I never added the Warblers to my list because I am still learning to ID them and wasn't 100% sure at the time. The dam also happens to be not but 15 minutes from my house as well, which is niiiice.

So, with 3 hours to burn this morning, I decided to try my hand again. Today I was armed with two bird guide books, a fall warbler ID chart and Stokes audio field guide on my iPod. Yes, I was determined to ID whatever came my way! As it turns out I saw only Yellow-rumped Warblers today, which have now become an easy ID for me. But I WASN'T skunked! Flitting through the shaded under growth was the one, the only, White-throated Sparrow! A great bird and a welcome migrant this time of year. Go out and find one! By the way... this bird has one of those songs that you've probably heard before. I've heard it just today as a part of outdoor sound FX on a TV show... which brings up another point. Do YOU ID the bird calls you hear on TV shows?? That's when you know you may be in a little deep...

White-throated Sparrow, Identification, All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology


Photo Credits:

White-throated Sparrow - Cephas