Harris's Sparrow still Ottawa Co.

[Karl Overman]

Sue Wright, Diane Dugall and I went to Grand Haven, Ottawa County, to  
see the Neotropic Cormorant.  After seeing that bird we thought we  
would try for the Harris's Sparrow at Harbor Island, also in Grand  
Haven.  We drove over the Third Avenue bridge and checked the small  
lawn area immediately over the bridge and nearby thickets for  
Harris's Sparrow and White-crowned Sparrows.  Nothing.  Oh well, not  
a huge surprise as the bird had been there already 3 days in a very  
small area and understandably had moved on.  Or so I thought.  We  
then drove back over the bridge to leave the area.  I saw one White- 
crowned next to the road about 200 yards east of the bridge so we  
turned around on the long shot that the Harris's Sparrow was somehow  
associating with that lone White-crowned.  We pulled into a short  
gravel drive in from of a locked double gate.  Soon the White-crowned  
was joined by 2 more White-crowns....and the Harris's Sparrow.  That  
is what I call luck.  We photographed the Harris's Sparrow  but all  
the sparrows flushed readily with the regular flow of traffic by that  
location.

We eventually ended up birding some in Berrien County.  On Lakeside  
Road  at the bridge before reaching Forest Lawn we had a pair of  
White-eyed Vireos beside the expected Cerulean Warblers and Yellow- 
throated Warbler.


Cheers,

Karl Overman
Farmington Hills, Mi.