The good news is that I was able to find many Fox Sparrows out in Washington. Even got some really good close-up photos one early morning just outside the hotel we stayed in over at Ocean Shores. Witnessed all their funky scratching jumps while they forage in the underbrush.
Even had a nice comparison between the Fox and Song Sparrow as they sat just a small branch apart. Fox Sparrows foraged just feet in front of me and then would travel by in single-file lines. It was awesome.
The bad news? The digital card that I took all the photos on went circuits-up when I tried to download the pictures. I have tried 12 different ways to rescue them but the danged thing just won't mount anywhere. I have decided they are lost forever.
Then again, there was that "We recover pictures from digital cards!" sign up at the local photo and hobby store. Hmmmmmm...might be the final try. I just can't convince myself to throw the thing away.
SO! All I have left of the Fox Sparrow are a couple fairly horrible photos from the end of my hike out to Dungeness Lighthouse. They are from a good distance so I had to enlarge them but they are Fox Sparrows.
The first bird I saw near the maintenance building was a Junco but there were other birds flying to and from the bird feeder set up outside so I stopped to rest and see what I could see. After the Junco caught my eye, a Spotted Towhee hopped out to pick up seed from the ground and was soon followed by a Fox Sparrow.
It would grab something and fly back to the brambles to eat and then come back out again after a couple minutes. Every now and then it would jump up on a nearby stump and do a display of some sort by flaring out its tail every now and then.
Then it would fly back into the brambles. Interesting. I still had a half-mile to get back to the car for some Gatorade so I headed on.
If there is some miracle that resurrects the fallen digital card I will update this species account, but I have a feeling that the cold science of the situation will prevail.
Pity.
Still, I have the memory of that morning by the Pacific in my brain. It was a warming time on a chilly day.
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