My breakfast on the front porch was spiced up by a Zono Hat Trick, as the usual few White-crowned Sparrows were joined by a gorgeous adult White-throated Sparrow and a spiffy hatch-year Harris's Sparrow. It was so interesting to compare their relative sizes, shapes and colors as they fed side by side on the lawn under the feeders.
I don't know if a Zono Slam (WCSP, WTSP, HASP and Golden-crowned) has ever been enjoyed in a Colorado yard, but I'm watching for that western wanderer to appear to make it a party of four! Have all four of Colorado's Zonotrichia sparrows ever been seen simultaneously in the state, or even all on the same day? I'd guess some red hot birder has maybe pieced all four into a single day, but maybe not all together. It is something to dream about.
Out on Monterey Bay the term Skua Slam was part of the birding lexicon when South Polar Skua and all three jaegers were seen on the same boat trip, but that was less rare than a Zono Slam would be. A Colorado Skua Slam is something else to dream about. Dream on! Say, why are jaegers so lacking this fall? eBird suggests just one Parasitic at Jackson Lake was all there was.
David Suddjian
Ken Caryl Valley
Littleton, CO