Big Creek SP

Late this afternoon I got outside for a little while and headed to Big Creek State Park.  Is "eBird stalking" a thing?  It probably should be - I chose Big Creek because some sparrows I've been trying to see were reported there on eBird over the weekend.  Inspired by the movie The Big Year I've started keeping a year list.  It's fun to start each year with a clean slate and see how quickly I can add species - although this year I've been slowed down with a persistent injury.  That didn't stop me from taking an hour today to try and chase down some sparrows (by chase down, I actually mean observe from a respectful distance which is the reason for my poor-quality photos below; most people would probably know I don't literally mean chase down but this is the internet).

There were hundreds of Canada Geese doing their geesy thing on the frozen lake - squabbling, chasing, wandering about, and then taking off in a huge loud flock for reasons only other geese know.  I did hear a few Cackling Geese in the mix.  I wasn't able to pick out any other waterfowl, but I was driving and there wasn't a shoulder so I couldn't pull over to get a really good look.  I finally settled on a place to park that looked to me like prime sparrow real estate - restored prairie up against woodlands on one side of the parking lot and scrubby woodlands on the other.  I got out of my car, tried to stand as unobtrusively as possible, and waited to see if anything showed up.

I didn't have to wait too long before I heard the quiet sparrow "chip" - a kind of warning/alarm one bird will call out to let the others in the flock know they've spotted something potentially dangerous.  (Random aside: Researchers have discovered that many different species speak chickadee - such as nuthatches, kinglets, vireos, woodpeckers, and other birds that will sometimes hang out with chickadees in a mixed flock.  These other species can recognize a chickadee alarm call so they can hide too when a chickadee spots something.  Another random aside: Chickadees have different alarm calls for different threats - meaning what they call when they see an aerial predator is different than what they call for a ground attack.  How cool is that!)  Anyways, the sparrows must have decided I wasn't too threatening, because pretty soon they popped up into sight.

Success!  Note the red crown, red stripe through the eye, and black dot on the middle of the chest - American Tree Sparrow.  These birds will head up to northern Canada to breed, so I guess this is their idea of a "warm" place to winter.  Normally I'd disagree but today it was mid-40s and sunny with only a slight breeze, so pretty spectacular for February.

Also seen and heard were Red-bellied Woodpeckers, a Hairy Woodpecker, American Crows, American Robins, Black-capped Chickadees, a Mourning Dove, the geese, and some White-breasted Nuthatches.  Most of the birds kept their distance, but I got some more photos of a nuthatch - this time a male.  This one was very accommodating and stopped to show me his solid black cap before continuing on around the tree searching to bits of food.

These guys (and gals) will cache food for later by hiding it under bits of loose bark.  At my last job, I was lucky enough to have my office at a state park.  One of my coworkers hung some bird feeders in front of his office's window, and one day while we were having a meeting a nuthatch started tapping on the window.  Coincidentally (or not?) the feeder was empty.  So the nuthatch was either letting us know he wanted more food, or was investigating his reflection.  Or perhaps something else entirely, I can't say I know what goes through a nuthatch's mind...