Photographing Life Birds

Not the guy we were looking for, although we would have liked to get a better pic

We found a real good sparrow up on Dingman Road in Fort Plain the last day of May. Others have seen it too since then and we go up that way every now and then, seeking a better photo than the less than stellar ones I have.

Then the other day another birder alerted me that someone had seen a Grasshopper Sparrow there. Oooooooohhhh....

I wanted one...having never seen one except when I was young and the fields were full of birds and eBird and record keeping were a long, long way in the future. Way back then I saw them occasionally over the course of many miles traversed on Magnum back. Birds don't mind horses much.

Anyhow, back to the current bird....Liz had yesterday afternoon off from one of her jobs so off we went.

It was a lovely afternoon until about ten minutes after we got there. The Clay-colored Sparrows we found in May were singing obligingly from several spots, but was that soft, insect-like buzzing from the middle of a hay field upon which I didn't wish to trespass a GRSP or was it not?

Hmmm....tiny fluttering tan thing floofs across the field and vanishes.

Probably, but certainly not an adequate ID to report.

We move up the road a bit and sploosh! the rain comes down in a wall.

Heh, not going to let that stop me. Ralph and I both hear little buzzes. From outside the car I can pick them out from three different places.

I refresh my memory of the sound by playing the Audubon version of it. A bunch of Savannah Sparrows come boiling up through the deluge.

Hmm, they also have a weak, buzzy call, but I am pretty familiar with them. Am I deluding myself? It's been known to happen.

But no, hot on their tails is a tiny football-shaped ball of feathers. Buffy, with a slightly darker back, open face, yep, orangey-yellow brow, it's him!

I flip my already already too-damp camera up and actually manage to find the thing in the view finder. Snap, I've got him, but before I could click again, he vanishes among the clover blossoms.

Wait til you see the picture....you won't have to wait long, it's right below. There is...or was...a bird in this photo, but I think you will have to take my word for it. 

It kinda got my goat if you know what I mean