[obol] White-crowned Sparrow observation

[Scott Carpenter]

During spring migration in Chicago, I saw odd things such as Soras hiding
under parked cars that were parked under the rather noisy 'EL' tracks, Soras
perched in pine trees, American Woodcocks perfectly still next to high-rise
buildings such as the Sears Tower, Scarlet Tanagers feeding in dumpsters in
alleys, Brown Creepers picking insects off of my building outside my twelfth
floor office window (and they were heading UP the exterior of the 30+ story
building), etc.

Both White-crowned and White-throated Sparrows were relatively easy to find
in the downtown Chicago area in bushes next to high-rises, and often would
feed within inches of people having lunch outside.  I would often see one or
two in a parking lot that had only a tiny bush or two.  The fact that they
could found these tiny patches of green among the concrete and steel was a
testament to their survival instinct.

I suspect this type of thing would happen more often in the Portland metro
area if we did not have so much natural habitat mixed in with our urban
areas.  Hopefully what you saw will remain an unusual event in this region.

Scott Carpenter
SW Portland


On Thu, May 22, 2008 at 4:34 PM, <john at bornagainbirdwatcher.com> wrote:

> As I had to venture into the belly of the beast this morning (being the
> sprawl surrounding the Portland metro area) I had the opportunity to note a
> bird I don't ordinarily consider a "parking lot bird" in that very
> environment. As I was parking the car, I noticed that a White-crowned
> Sparrow hopped out of the shrubbery surrounding the Barnes and Noble
> bookstore on 185th and Cornell. Not ornithologically ground-breaking, to be
> sure, but interesting none the less.
>
> Peace and good bird watching,
> John E. Riutta
> Now safely back home in Scappoose, OR
> Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
> _______________________________________________
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> obol at oregonbirdwatch.org
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>
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