Did you enjoy playing in puddles when you were a child? I remember a childhood of rubber boots and yellow slickers and days when my pant legs would be drenched from walking through puddles. Even now, I’ll occasionally kick my feet through a puddle of water and then glance quickly all around, hoping that nobody has seen me give in to my child-like impulses.
When I spotted this White-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) in a shallow puddle, I thought he was merely getting a drink of water. However, he stuck his head in the water, splashed around, and seemed to be having a good time. Perhaps he was taking a bath, or maybe he was simply enjoying himself in the cool waters. (In case you are curious about the background, the puddle had formed in a low area adjacent to a speed bump at the entrance to the parking area of my local marsh park—the yellow you can see is the safety paint of the speed bump itself.)
Initially, I was unsure that this sparrow was a White-throated, because the white patch was not really obvious and the eye stripes were not as well defined as in previous photos that I have posted of this species. The yellow coloration above the lore (the area between the eye and the bill) makes it pretty likely that this is a White-throated sparrow, though it may be the brown and tan striped variant, rather than the black and white one that I featured in a posting earlier this week.
I don’t know about you, but I feel inspired to find a puddle to play in today. Have a wonderful Friday.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 