This Tuesday evening after work I visited the park for the 4th day in a row. It was nice but sort of that hazy bluish-grey sky that makes for bad photos. Not that there was much to photograph though anyway. One thing I did see on the south side was my first Great Egret of the season. This one was flying overhead and I tried quickly to catch a shot before he passed. I'm a little concerned about Egrets as they've not been as plentiful as in previous years.
I'll be counting their numbers at the park this year for comparison. I've been off-roading it a lot during my hikes lately and I did so again on the northeast side, spotting a Blue Jay just before leaving the trail. I hiked through the woods to a line of trees that runs almost perfectly east - west. Here I spotted a Sparrow similar to one I'd seen yesterday and for the life of me I cannot positively identify it, though I know it's either a Chipping Sparrow or an American Tree Sparrow. When I first started birding, I purposely stayed away from Sparrows because I knew how difficult they could be to distinguish from one another. But I'm now to a point where I'd really like to know how to tell them apart.
Going from my photos only, there are more clues pointing to a Chipping Sparrow but by gut instinct says that it's an American Tree Sparrow -based more on the streaked breast and faint-but-noticeable dark spot in the middle of the breast. I will have to keep looking for more and hopefully get some more comparison shots before I can finally make up my mind.
I'll be counting their numbers at the park this year for comparison. I've been off-roading it a lot during my hikes lately and I did so again on the northeast side, spotting a Blue Jay just before leaving the trail. I hiked through the woods to a line of trees that runs almost perfectly east - west. Here I spotted a Sparrow similar to one I'd seen yesterday and for the life of me I cannot positively identify it, though I know it's either a Chipping Sparrow or an American Tree Sparrow. When I first started birding, I purposely stayed away from Sparrows because I knew how difficult they could be to distinguish from one another. But I'm now to a point where I'd really like to know how to tell them apart. 
Going from my photos only, there are more clues pointing to a Chipping Sparrow but by gut instinct says that it's an American Tree Sparrow -based more on the streaked breast and faint-but-noticeable dark spot in the middle of the breast. I will have to keep looking for more and hopefully get some more comparison shots before I can finally make up my mind.
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