I confess I’ve let myself get busy lately, and haven’t spent as much time as I’d like with the birdcam. And then it was down for a while, and when it came back we got the depressing news that it’s due to go away permanently next month (though with the promise of being redeployed in Texas in March, which sounds exciting, even if it’s a long way away).
But in the meantime, people have been taking some great pictures, and I’ve sometimes checked them out in the evening after work. But I’ve never seen one that was exciting enough to get me off my butt and posting a new item to the blog.
Until tonight, when I saw that the Golden-crowned Sparrow has returned. Yay!
It was one of the rarest birds in the system, with only two photos taken way back at the beginning of the game. The very first shot of the game, in fact, was this one by patti (who is Patti Bao, who did the webcam site’s user interface and website design), taken back on April 20:
And there was just one more shot, again taken by patti, on April 21:
After that the birds moved on, and it has taken until now, with the Fall migration under way, for them to turn up again. Honors for the first shot of a Golden-crowned Sparrow in almost six months goes to avatar99, who got this great shot in the trees on Monday, October 15, at 1:21 p.m.:
Several more shots were taken during that appearance in the trees, and then on Monday evening the bird was briefly on the railing, where my favorite shot was this one taken by achadamaia at 5:49 p.m.:
There was also this hard-to-identify shot that was taken by vanilla this morning at 7:33 a.m.; it’s currently in status “disputed”, but I’m reasonably confident that’s a Golden-crowned:
Finally, there were some more nice shots this evening, including this one taken at 5:17 p.m. by robin54:
You might well see me paying more attention to the birdcam over the next few days. I’d love to get a shot of a Golden-crowned myself. 🙂 But in the meantime, congratulations to everyone who’s managed to get a photo of this great bird!
congratulations Avatar99 for being the first to get the shot of the Golden crown sparrow. It looks like he may be a regular now since he showed up two days in a row. I want to get a shot too. We have to start watching the railing and the trees more. I’m sad that they are taking down the camera and will miss the birds and everyone on the site . I’ve put up feeders in my yard and watch them from my kitchen and bedroom windows. It’s fun to hear them too. happy bird watching everyone!
I’m really robin54, but somehow never received the first password , so I created a new account on yahoo ( they don’t block anything ) so I could sign on here. First, elanus, I want to thank you for the time you have put into this blog. it’s been great fun reading your posts and the comments from the other players. I am always surprised by what shows up in this yard : RT Hawk and crows at a birdbath ! And this GCS at the feeders . I never see sparrows on the feeders in my yard, always underneath them. Sparrows are moving through here on the east coast in great numbers,
Check out killeshins shots of the Townsends Warbler from a few days ago. What a treat, another surprise at the birdbath !
They can most definitely send it to ME in Texas. I have a huge backyard and my stepdad works at Wild Birds Unlimited, so this could work out well.