Finally, in Boulder

[Richard Trinkner]

I've wanted to see a White-throated Sparrow in Boulder County for nearly 25 years. Whenever one is posted on Cobirds or eBird, I race off to try to find it, but I've always dipped, and trudged away from the site with the feeling that White-throated Sparrows are birds that other people see in Boulder. 

Until today.

After work, I wandered over to the Boulder Community Gardens a block away from my home, in hopes that I might catch a decent photo of a starling or a robin. 

As I was photographing a White-crowned Sparrow in the lovely horizontal light of a late-October evening, I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be cool if a White-throated Sparrow popped up right here?" And then, as if cued by an off-stage director, a White-throated Sparrow popped up, literally exactly centered in my camera's viewfinder. I didn't even have to re-focus.  I just pressed down on the shutter button, and there it was. 

Wow.

Other cool birds at the Boulder Community Gardens:  two adult-plumaged Bald Eagles sparring with each other in mid-air.  I managed a decent photo of them, too. Three Cedar Waxwings, which also posed for my lens.  And a first-of-the-season American Tree Sparrow perched in the fading light.

If you'd like to see the photos, they're here: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49588574.

Good birding everybody. This October has been a magical month for Boulder birds.

Richard Trinkner

Boulder