Very late Fox Sparrows

[cairnstone]

Yesterday I had 2 Fox Sparrows. One in my garden and one scratching leaf litter in the adjacent park. Today, I had one. I have never seen a Fox Sparrow this late around here before. I cleaned the near 15cm of snow and tossed down seed for it which it gladly accepted. We'll see how long it sticks around. December 12, 2016, Brampton.

[Dinusaur]

Gorgeous photo - enjoy as long as you can. There are lot of reports of Fox Sparrows recently - may be this is an eruption year for them.

[cairnstone]

Yes I have noticed reports of many late Fox Sparrows this year. It was back again today. I hope it can handle the bitter cold, but I guess it's probably better equipped for it than some birds that forget to go further south.

[Pat Hodgson]

I had a late one on Dec 6th in my yard.  They are late but it cannot really be called an irruption in the sense of birds coming south in abnormal numbers from a northern wintering range, as this is a bird that has a winter range entirely to the south of us.

[cairnstone]

Fox Sparrow continues December 18. It's plump and healthy. Hopefully the Cooper's Hawks will miss it during their raids.