Martin's House in Wellington 2/11

I had sent an email last night to Steve and Kathy Martin about a going to try to see a White-throated Sparrow sometime soon that Nick Komar told me was wintering at their house. This morning I received an email back saying that I could go look whenever I would like as long as they are home. Then, a couple hours later I got another email from them saying that in the snowy weather that it has been around most of the morning and now would be a good time to try to see it. So, I called them right after I got the email and headed over. I got there around 12:30 in the afternoon. They invited me inside their house to sit on their couch waiting for it to show up and about 10 minutes later I saw the White-throated Sparrow (130). It stuck around for a while giving good looks and great photo opportunities. There were also a lot of common birds coming to their feeders in the backyard. I was inside watching the feeders for about 40 minutes and the White-throated Sparrow was visible for almost half of that time.

                                                White-throated Sparrow

                                                White-throated Sparrow

                                                  White-throated Sparrow

                                                White-crowned Sparrow

                                                     Northern Flicker

My plan was to hurry up to the feed lot a little ways northeast of Wellington to look for Lapland Longspurs before I had to hurry for work, but when I left the house I decided to look and listen for anything interesting and in particular listen for a Yellow-rumped Warbler that I was told has been around all winter. After about 45 seconds I heard a familiar call that I just couldn't place. As I was looking in the direction of where the call was coming from I saw a bird sitting still in a tree. I quickly realized it was a female VARIED THRUSH (131). I ran back to their front door to tell them about this wonderful find and then realized I didn't get any pictures of it. They both came outside to look for it and I was hoping to get to see it again for two reasons. One was so they could see it and they other was to get documentation through photographs. We stood and walked around outside for about 10 minutes and then Steve said he had to go do something quickly inside and not 30 seconds after he walked away I heard the heavy 'chup' coming into a set of large leaveless trees. I quickly spotted it and immediately started taking pictures and trying to get Kathy on the bird. Eventually she got good looks and I got good photos. Then the battery on my camera died and about 5 seconds later it flew north the the neighbors house. About 2 minutes later Steve came back out and we told him that we saw it again.

                                                       Varied Thrush

                                                      Varied Thrush

I am not sure if anyone saw the bird again at all during the day or even if anyone looked for it. Thank you Steve and Kathy Martin for letting me come to your house and the great hospitality today. It was a great joy getting the chance to visit your yard and hear your exciting stories.