An Unusal Migrant

September 15, 2012

We had just returned from our birding trip to Hungary and Slovakia http://web.ncf.ca/eb317/Hungary/hungary.htm

We went to our cottage at Grand lac des Cèdres for a little relaxation and recovery time.  In the afternoon, I went fishing in what we call Deep Bay.  There wasn't much action, but I could see a lot of fluttering one-hundred metres down the shoreline, that looked a lot like butterflies.

I went to investigate and discovered that there were dozens of Yellow-rumped Warblers flitting from tree to ground and back.  Being warblers, they are frustratingly difficult to photograph, but I kept on trying.  Then one of them sat out in the open for an instant - but wait, it was not a warbler, but rather a sparrow.

It's plain breast had me confused.  What would a grassland sparrow be doing here in the mixed forest with  a bunch of Yellow Rumps?  I had to check with Tony Beck, but he confirmed that it was a Clay-coloured Sparrow - another new bird for the cottage list.