Sparrizona

When people ask me why we moved to Arizona, I generally lie and say it was for the birds. The truth? It was for the sparrows.

This weekend has amply confirmed our wisdom, with great Sage Sparrows yesterday and a big surprise this afternoon. Darlene sent a note around about a Slate-colored Fox-Sparrow at a seed pile in the middle of a shopping center parking lot just up Oracle Road from us. So I threw the puppy in the car and headed up there.

The store staff had already taken the feeders in and gone home, but a small gang of Mourning Doves was still gleaning millet from under the petunias–along with the sparrow.

Slate-colored is the most common of the fox-sparrows in southeast Arizona, which is not to say that it’s anything like common. And near as I can remember, this was my first Passerella of any flavor in a Safeway parking lot!