While walking along the sidewalk adjacent to Crescent Harbor last week, I happened to catch sight of something brown and not vegetation-like in the salmonberry bushes growing beside the path ahead of me. I managed to stop before I flushed the Song Sparrow perched on one of the branches. As I watched, the bird chewed on a swollen green bud that appeared close to opening.

Although I tend to think of Song Sparrows as ground-feeding seed eaters, I have on a previous occasion noted a Song Sparrow eating the still-green seeds of saltbrush (Atriplex gmelinii). Prior to this individual, I do not remember seeing a Song Sparrow eating greens, however.

I continued to watch, and the sparrow sang a little bit, but not its full song, as it kept its bill mostly closed, though I could see its throat moving in time with the soft chirps and trills. After a little bit of singing, it moved up the branch and really went after one of the buds. Shortly after this, I caught sight of a quickly moving bird down in the rocks. The Song Sparrow in the bushes noticed also, and directed his attention toward where the second bird had flown. Upon seeing the second bird appear again from the rocks, the first one flew down to the rocks as well.

I took a look at the branch where I had seen the Song Sparrow chewing at the buds. Despite the vigor with which it appeared the bird was chewing, the marks seemed subtle to my eyes. I took a photo of the bud that appeared to have the most obvious damage, but even that I suspect I would find difficult to notice unless I looked for it specifically.

Curious about the eating habits of Song Sparrows, I looked up the food habits of Song Sparrows on the Birds of North America Online Song Sparrow account. From that I see they also frequently consume invertebrates and fruits (which does not surprise me, I probably should have realized that myself). However, it does not mention them eating greens.

Update: Someone pointed out to me that insect larvae could utilize the buds, and perhaps the Song Sparrow was going after them. I’ve not noticed such insect larvae (or evidence thereof), but that’s probably because I haven’t been looking.

I had another full day at school, but did manage to take a few pictures between classes and meetings. I have noticed that this warm weather after two plus weeks of wintery conditions makes me feel like it should be spring. This could make for a long winter since we are not even to the solstice.

Weather: It was mostly overcast today with a few patches of sunshine. There was actually a pretty nice sunset and an hour or so later, I could see the full moon outside my office window rising between Verstovia and the Sisters. The rain held off for most of the day, but it’s started up again this late this evening as I am writing this.

Birds: The Great Blue Heron was at the flume again. When I went to my first class, it was standing at the top of the falls. In the middle of the class, I could see it had flown up to the railing of the foot bridge. It was still on the railing when I left class. It seemed to be trying to get some sleep, but it would pull its head out from under its wing whenever someone would walk close by.

There was a Kingfisher that seemed to favor a couple of different perches along the flume.

There were several Black Turnstones on Sage Rock and a few other ducks off Sage Beach, though I did not get a good look at them.

I saw a Brown Creeper on one of the trees along Hillcrest Drive on my way home early this afternoon.

Other Notes: There were deer tracks in our front yard this morning. When I came back up this afternoon, it almost seemed like there were more deer tracks than I had seen in the morning. I’m not sure whether the deer was wandering around relatively late or I just did not notice all of the tracks on my way to class.

Today was one of the higher tides of the year.