White-throated Sparrow, Estes Park yard, Larimer Co., 5/26

[Jim Nelson]

As I was getting my second bowl of cereal this morning at our vacation home on the west side of Estes Park, I glanced out the kitchen door at the back yard area where we have our bird feeders. I saw a bright bird feeding on the ground. Realizing it was something different, I grabbed my binoculars and focused on a very bright White-throated Sparrow. At home in Maryland in late fall, winter, and early spring, we have lots of them in our back yard. But I know it is very unusual in Colorado and especially up here. I managed one documentary photo before it flew off. It has not returned since.


I checked eBird and found only one other record in the Estes Park area, at the YMCA Camp in October 2010. There is also an eBird report a bit south in Allenspark, Boulder Co., in November 2012.


It is always nice to get a new state bird in our own back yard.


Another fun observation was a male Hairy Woodpecker that managed to hold on to a perch on our hummingbird feeder and extract sugar water using its long tongue.


We also have been seeing a melanistic Mountain Chickadee which is fairly dark gray in the areas that would normally be white.


Jim Nelson
Bethesda, Maryland