I live in the city, and though I feed the birds the most frequent visitors are house sparrows, the occasional house finch or gold finch, plus a few local cardinals, jays, grackles, and starlings. A few years ago a white crowned sparrow made the scene for a while. It was a purely migratory visitor – southern Michigan lays between its summer range to the north and winter range to the south. But for a few years the white crowned appeared at the feeders, usually around Easter.

In the last few years I’ve heard the melodic song of a white throated sparrow for a few weeks each spring. Similar to the white crowned, it is a purely migratory visitor. Late this afternoon I heard the distinctive song of the white throated sparrow for the first time this season, and slipped out to try to grab a quick shot of it.

This image is the result of that effort – not bad but not very good. It’s a major crop out of the frame, and was shot hand-held using a long lens ( a sure way to get a less than tack sharp image.)

But the photo gives hope of a possibly more successful shot if the bird should decide to hang around for a while. So it’s time to dust off the big glass (it really has been too long) and get ready to try for a nice portrait of this migratory visitor!

Image details: shot with Pentax *ist-D, Tokina ATX 400mm f 5.6 @ f8, AF360FGZ flash for fill.