358. Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

Date         November 25, 2024

Location    Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

This picture is a screen grab of a video I took with my phone. Yes, with my phone!

After the Rufous-crowned Sparrow, we started the hike back up the Bright Angel Trail. Which, by the way, is probably the most arduous hiking I've ever done, at least what I can remember. Anyway, I heard a bird in a tree down the trail from me and turned back to investigate. This was a pretty easy ID.

The video capture shows him flying past me from left to right as he flew up the trail to another tree just above me on the trail. You can see the beautiful canyon wall in the background.

Cornell: Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

357. Rufous-crowned Sparrow

Date         November 25, 2024

Location    Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

This was on the Bright Angel trail, down from the South Rim.

Mieka and I had stopped to rest at the 3-mile rest house, preparing for the climb back up. I was sitting on a boulder at the base of the house, eating something. I saw two birds flitting about the bushes nearby, probably about 10 yards away. I managed to pull out my binoculars and was getting a good look when they started flying toward me.

It eventually landed on an adjacent boulder not three feet away, just out of arm's reach. My guess is that they feed off of crumbs from all the hikers eating and resting there, so they've gotten bold. I was able to get a good look without binoculars. He stayed there for a few seconds before flying off. Range and habitat also fit perfectly.

This was the second sparrow of the year (other was Golden-crowned in Alaska) that basically fell in my lap as I was sitting on the ground eating.

Cornell: Rufous-crowned Sparrow

356. Stilt Sandpiper

Date         October 5, 2024

Location    Nygren Wetland Preserve, Rockton, IL

The photo above is the actual bird, as taken by a cell phone camera through my spotting scope lens.

Logan and I agonized over this one for quite some time. I even submitted to the What's this bird? page on Facebook. The consensus was Stilt Sandpiper. After considering range and everything else, we felt like this was a solid ID.

Cornell: Stilt Sandpiper