towhee and sparrows

another path leads to the western side of the river mouth at Campbell but the presence of rather a lot of bear poo and a rather narrow path meant that some flitting sparrows were initially given little attention until I realised that a percentage of the flock were in fact Golden-crowned Sparrows a species I had not seen since California in 1997 -- after some tricky views a couple of birds eventually performed well -- Spotted Towhees were also frequent -- according to the Sibley guide these first two White-crowned Sparrows are first-winter West Taiga birds while the bird on the path is a Pacific first-winter -- Savannah Sparrows were scattered through most habitats

passerines Quadra

when the rain finally stopped there was an amazing appearance of passerines along the coastal strip with flocks of Dark-eyed Juncos (all Oregon types), Audubon's Warblers, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Golden crowned Kinglets, Song Sparrows and Spotted Towhees dominating -- a flock of Band-tailed Pigeons landed in a tall tree but gave typical poor views -- 

Gambel's White-crowned Sparrows

even the juveniles show the head pattern in reduced form -- a wet start to the trip with these taken in heavy rain -- all photos on the trip were taken with a Canon 5D3 and 300 2.8 II with 1.4 and 2x III converters
found almost everywhere White-crowned Sparrows were even singing from apartment balconies in central Vancouver