American Tree Sparrow

Birding is famously good for developing one’s sense of geography: how many non-birders do you know who have a clue about the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Davis Mountains, or Grayling, Michigan?

All the same, I still fall into the trap of thinking that just because I’m north, or west, or south, or east of usual, all “northern” or “western,” etc., species should be present and common. That’s not the case here in the Pacific Northwest, of course, where classic “western” birds like Lazuli Bunting or even Western Kingbird are most easily found be heading east, to the drier country on the other side of the coastal ranges.

A long-tailed little sparrow that flashed past me this afternoon at Iona Beach drove the lesson home once again. The reddish aspect and long, dark tail screamed American Tree Sparrow, and sure enough, a little patience gave good looks at the first member of that familiar species I’d seen for a long, long time.

American Tree Sparrow, Iona Beach.

It’s a common winter bird over much of the northern half of the US–but not on the Pacific Coast, for some reason, where they are relatively scarce; indeed, this was the first one I’d ever seen in Vancouver. Tree Sparrows actually breed in northern British Columbia (this is one big province!), but apparently they avoid the shoreline as they move north with the spring.