Golden-crowned Sparrow

I spent some time looking for the reported Swamp Sparrow at Fernhill Wetlands on Saturday. No luck with that. I talked with a few bird(er)s who said they had seen it earlier in the morning, so I decided to try again. I even got my iPad out and played its call to see if I could coax it out. Still no luck. It's the first time I have every tried play bird calls to attract a bird.
Later, on the Dabblers Marsh Trail, I came upon a few Golden-crowned Sparrows in a small grove of trees. They weren't far from me but they stayed in among the cover of the branches, not giving me a clear view. So I decided I try my iPad on these sparrows. Much better luck, not only did it pull one out very near me, they also began to sing along with the iPad.
I tried the iPad again in an area where I regularly see Bewick's Wrens and it worked again, if only briefly.
Even with the success, I'm not sure I'll try this too often as it's usually frowned upon, especially with rarer birds, but it sure was fun. :-)

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Many of the birds are exchanging their winter plumage for their breeding plumage. Such is the case with this Golden-crowned Sparrow. Just a few weeks ago, its crown's black and yellow stripes were not nearly as well defined as they are now.

Golden-crowned Sparrow

While I still see plenty of Song Sparrows, late Autumn seems to be dominated by Golden-crowned Sparrows around here as most sparrows I see are Golden-crowned. While they aren't quite as cooperative as Song Sparrows are in the Spring, they do allow you to get fairly close.
I got two good opportunities at Fernhill Wetlands on Nov 27. First near the grove of trees next to Dabbler's Marsh (top image) and then later in some bushes at the southeast corner of Cattail Marsh.
The darker colors on the crown of the bird in the top image would indicate an adult Golden-crowned Sparrow although I have seen some with more defined crowns, while the paler crown of the bird in the lower two images would indicate a 1st winter Golden-crowned.

Molalla River State Park

For such a great weekend weather-wise, my birding experience was not very good. I don't usually post trip reports, but it seems appropriate based on my experience and the fact that I didn't take many pictures.
I started out on Saturday morning with a visit to Hayden Island to see if I could see some of the ducks that are still being reported there. When I left Wilsonville, it was sunny and mild, but by the time I got to Hayden Island it was cloudy, cold and quite windy.

I first checked out the walkway along the condos where the Western Grebes, Scaups and Scoters have been, but I only found the Western Grebes. I counted about 25.I then went looking for Broughton Beach. I have never been. There have been reports of Horned Grebes and Common Goldeneyes, both of which would be new life birds for me. I did see a very large raft of Scaups, but they were well off shore and at the time I was in my car trying to find a place to park. When I finally did find the small parking lot I ended up seeing very little and the cold wind soon got the better of me. Due to limited time, I eventually decided to give up and go home. Of course by the time I got home the sun was back out. :-(

Today, I decided to try birding Molalla River State Park. I had forgotten that it existed and is only about 15 minutes from my house. The birding wasn't great, but that may be because I didn't get out there until about 2:30. I did get a few decent photos, but nothing to write home about.

There were a few Golden-crowned Sparrows.

Several Dark-eyed Juncos.

A male American Kestrel.

Even though there were many signs stating that dogs must be on leash, there were lots of dogs roaming free. At one point a woman with her off-leash German Shepard started freaking out when her dog started running to another woman's off-leash Rottweiler. Things got a little tense, but they eventually parted way.One dog chased this Squirrel up a tree.

Golden-crowned Sparrow

It's interesting. TRNWR has been relatively quite for some time. It's still been a great place for birding, but once Summer came, activity went way done. Then we moved into the Fall I had hopes of seeing a lot of migrants, but that didn't seem to be the case. Now, in the last week, the place seems to be coming alive again.
I found the Golden-crowned Sparrow above in the same Blackberry bushes as the House Finch I posted yesterday.

Golden-crowned Sparrow

This Golden-crowned Sparrow's crown has better defined coloration than the last one I posted, but I wasn't able to get as close.

Golden-crowned Sparrow

A week ago last Saturday while I was on my way to the bird blind at TRNWR, these were the first birds I shot (well they were the second after the Bald Eagle in the parking lot). They were along the path in the wooded patch just before the first bridge snacking on some dandelion seeds. Their golden crowns are not a solid as most pictures I've seen of this species, but they are obviously Golden-crowned Sparrows.