Winter Visitor: The Golden crowned Sparrow Species: Golden crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla)
Today’s highlight was an up close encounter with this beautiful Golden crowned Sparrow. This individual is likely in its immature or non-breeding plumage, which you can tell by the more muted, "smudged" yellow on its forehead and the brown (rather than bold black) stripes on its crown.
The "Weary Willie" of the West
For birders, this species is famous for its haunting, three note whistle in a minor key. During the Klondike Gold Rush, lonely miners nicknamed this bird "Weary Willie" because they thought its song sounded like it was sighing "I’m so tired" or, even more bleakly, "No gold here." In modern birding circles, many of us describe the song as a melancholic "Oh, dear me."
