Saturday, May 19, 2012

While visiting the farm we saw one of my favorite birds,
the Harris Sparrow.  It performed exactly as noted in
The Birds of Alberta by John Acorn. They appeared in
a large mixed flock of sparrows in conjunction with
White Crowned and White Throated Sparrows. They
feed primarily on the ground and they appeared in a rural
area while I have seen them once in Calgary they are most
often encountered at the farm in the spring

" Harris Sparrows are birds that seek out the edges"

Return to Warden's Grove: Science,
Desire, and the Lives of Sparrows

                                        Christopher Norment 







"There is a place where the town ends
and the fields begin.
It’s not marked but the feet know it,
also the heart, that is longing for refreshment
and, equally, for repose.

Someday we’ll live in the sky.
Meanwhile, the house of our lives is the world.
The fields, the ponds, the birds."

                                  Boundaries
                                     Mary Oliver


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a pretty bird. I see it is not in our range. It is in Oklahoma, where I grew up, but I don't remember it.

Another great Oliver poem!

Guy said...

Hi Sandy

I always find it one of the more striking Sparrows. However you have ample substitutes out your way I still miss Cardinals but each region has it's own treasures.

I had not noticed the Oliver poem in my earlier readings but I quite like it now.

Regards
Guy