Yesterday, doing some birding on the place to see how well our nesting Lazuli Buntings did this summer, I had a surprise visitor. I scared up an adult male Chipping Sparrow. This is an early date for Chipping on our place. Looking Chipping Sparrow up, the species does have prolonged spring & fall migrations.

In terms of the Lazulis, I wasn’t disappointed. Counted a dozen (5 males, 4 females & 3 juveniles) & suspect quite a few more juveniles are around. At one point, had 6-7 in the air flying different directions. Black-headed Grosbeaks did very well this summer, too, with at least 15 around.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot