Brewer's Sparrow

 I did a breeding bird survey last week in mountain shrub habitat, and the most dominant bird was this nondescript Brewer's Sparrow (Spizella breweri). The males like to go to the top of shrubs and sing and sing and sing. They have a distinctive song, with a downward trill. They are loud, and sometimes it's hard to block out that song to listen for other bird species!

 This Brewer's Sparrow didn't mind hanging out near me. It was on top of a rose bush surrounded by a lot of sagebrush. In fact, Brewer's Sparrows are often found in sagebrush, eating insects and later in the summer, seeds.

It was a fun morning listening to these guys and quite a few other birds. I don't get to actually see many of the birds I hear, so it's a treat to see one, much less be able to photograph one! (This is the only bird I photographed that morning.)

This week, if the wind calms down, I hope to get in a bird survey in pinyon-juniper habitat. A few of the birds overlap, but quite a few don't.