With golden streaks on their brown and tan heads, Savannah sparrows are well matched to the their surroundings in the fields of the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm at this time of. year.
I had spotted an early arrival about two weeks ago, and other birders have been noting that more and more are arriving daily. This morning I trained my camera on what I thought was a song sparrow. The bird had a small blob at the center of its breast. When I called the image up on screen, I realized the “blob” was only slightly larger than the other streaks on its upper breast.
I also could see the golden tones along the bird’s face, cinching the ID as a Savannah.
The goldenrod plants are flourishing in the big fields these days, and they are joined by bright asters, wild senna and other yellow-blossomed plants. With a morning sun beaming down from a cloud-free sky, the fields light up.
A bit of fall color is starting to show on some of the trees, a red patch here, a yellow leaf there, fooling me frequently into thinking I might be seeing a bird.
A birder I passed on the trail this morning was staking out Lincoln’s sparrows just off the trail, but I pressed on without seeing any. The Lincoln’s, with a faint buffy yellow wash on their breasts, are another good fit for Fall. I haven’t seen one in a while, and I’ll keep looking in the coming days. 🦅
The Jersey Birder 