So, I am thinking this bird is a Song Sparrow. I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I can not be sure. For one thing, there was a flock of them, feeding together in short grass between the drive and the edge of the woods and/or hedge at Laudholm Farms in Wells Maine. They would fly up and into cover when I approached. I have seen Song Sparrows behave that way, but only during migration, and only at Cape May, New Jersey. Still, it is the right time of year. For another thing, most of the birds lacked any noticeable central breast spot…but then, Song Sparrows are notoriously variable. Finally, they seemed too small, and not “plump” enough, but then I generally see Song Sparrows posted up (and probably puffed up) singing. The alternatives are not good either. I have other shots from further away, and in no shot can I see even a hint of buff where it ought to be on a Lincoln’s and I have never seen a Lincolns out in the open feeding as these were. Savannah? I should see at least a hint of yellow above the eye on some bird, don’t you think? And way too brown for Vesper, and lacking the bold eye-ring. So, Song Sparrow. I think. Unless am just missing something obvious altogether. I am probably overthinking it, but I have seen what happens when people post pics with the wrong ID. (Not pretty!) This is one of those cases where it really would have been better to make the ID in the field, and not rely on the pics when I got home. (You can, by the way, take a look at each photo at higher resolution.) On the other hand, I really like the photos. The bit of fall foliage and the poses, etc. Great Sparrow shots…just not totally sure which Sparrow. And really, I ought to know better (or at least be more confident).  Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode. Processed in Polarr. 

Yesterday’s day poem was about the turkeys who came wandering through the yard in the morning rain. 

Carol came in in the middle of my Qi Gong
this morning, me still in my bare feet, tee-shirt
and pajama pants, and announced that there
were six turkeys in the back yard. I grabbed
my camera. Turns out it was a hen and five
well grown poults, looking for sustenance
among the fallen leaves under our trees in
steady rain…making a short cut, maybe,
across our yard. I got a few shots from the
open deck door before they disappeared up
the alley between our house and the house
next door…not an alley proper of course but
the narrow area between our house and the
hedge, full of strawberry plants and sunflowers.
Eventually they came out onto the front lawn
and I could stand in the front door and photo-
graph them as they passed under our little
apple trees. Carol had to leave right then or
be late for a funeral, so she went out, and
of course they all took wing, the poults high
into the pines across the road and the hen
sailing down the road and across to the
woods at eye-level…which was all she could
manage in her mature dignity. Such a treat.
Making the most of a rainy morning. I got
back to my Qi Gong and the turkeys went
looking for sustenance in someone else’s
yard, or maybe the marshy edge of the wood.

What more can I say? Sony RX10iv at 600mm and 200mm. Program mode. Processed in Polarr and assembled as a video slideshow in ImgPlay.