Howdy everyone! Good news, had my annual physical today and based on the results, I can, indeed, confirm I am still alive. It was touch ‘n go there for a while – especially when they had three nurses holding me down while another stuck a railroad spike in my arm to suck out gallons and gallons of my precious life-juice. I have to find out what strength regiment those ladies keep, holy cow, they’d mop up on the Steer wrangling circuit. A lot of stress to go through just to hear those sweet sounding 5 little words “Keep doing what you’re doing”. My doctor is trained well, as long as my numbers remain impeccable, he overlooks the occasional visit for ultra “mishaps”.
While I sip on some orange juice to recover from the earlier bloodletting (before heading out on today’s long training run), thought I would go ahead and get another post out for the month. This will buy me a few days as I verify everything is ready to go for Brad’s upcoming post. Since I introduced you to Guadalupe River State Park in the previous post, figured I would feature another feathered friend captured at that same location.
Hit the jump to read more about our buffy colored friend!
It has been a while since I’ve spotlighted a specimen from the Sparrow Family – unless I missed one, pretty sure the last “LBJ” (Little Brown Jobber) to get top billing was a little over a year ago with the Olive Sparrow (link here). The Olive has a very tight US range covering just the southern tip of Texas. The Lincoln’s is quite the opposite with all but the most southeastern states getting a piece of the action at some point during the year. They spend their winters along the coast of California, the southern borders of Arizona/Mexico and then push up covering practically all of Texas into Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. That winter range also includes all of Central America. Come migration, they fan out across the states to the north, some enjoying the rocky mountain region and the rest choosing Canada for their breeding frolicking. Not sure what Florida, Georgia, Carolinas and Virginia did to spurn these little featherballs, but those residents have to hope for strays.
Usually with LBJs this accessible, there’s a high degree of ID complexity. With the overlap, they have a chance to mingle with a many of their Sparrow kin, throwing regional clues to the wind. For example, with the tight Olive range, unless you are down near the Rio Grande Valley corridor, highly unlikely you are going to have an encounter, allowing you can take that off the candidate list.
Fortunately, the Lincoln’s Sparrow has some very distinct features. First thing to note is the darker spot on the chest, usually placed atop a clean white belly. That spot will get you into the Song, Savannah and obviously the Lincoln’s corner. For the final ID, look for the buffy coloring on the sides with very distinct and fine ticking. For the bell ring, you can also add in the tan colored mustache bordered by well-defined brown lines. To round out the ID process, a yellowish stripe over the eye confirms the Savannah and coarse striping on a white background will result in a Song Sparrow (link here).
Of all the Sparrow songs, I have to put the Lincoln’s call near the top. Very trilly and not as harsh as say the Song Sparrow. I have mistaken them for Wrens more than once in the field due to their note similarity. The Merlin app has become a trusted companion to help draw out the song nuances. You can check out some samples on Cornell’s site (link here).
Although these Sparrows are considered very secretive, I have been fortunate to spot them in fairly clear settings with minimal focus grabbing tangle (link here). Today’s specimen was sitting on a branch right on the banks of the Guadalupe River. Sittin’, chillin’ and for a brief moment, fluffin’
I attribute my tin luck to being one with their namesake as I was raised in the Abraham Lincoln heartland. In name only, of course, as they are really named for John Audubon’s companion while on an 1833 Canadian expedition (link here). Cornell notes that Thomas Lincoln was the only person to have successfully brought back a specimen. I’ll translate that cleverly watered down sentence – the only one to successfully shoot, kill and retrieve a specimen of this Sparrow family. Thankfully we have progressed from those early naturalist practices. Must point out that I abhor possessive bird names. Not only is it a pain in the ass to get the plurals right, it implies ownership and that claim shouldn’t go to someone who simply found it first – not to mention someone who blew it out of the sky {now stepping off of soap box}.
Well, other than the bruises left by the cage match struggle with the nurses, I think I’m recovered enough to lace up the running shoes and enjoy the 50+ degree (yes, that is a 5 and a zero) weather. Stay tuned for the upcoming post from Brad.
Wildlife Intrigued 
Great photos, I’m glad that you will live. 👍🏻
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Thank you John – I always look for any signs when I tell Linda the results of my physical to make sure there isn’t any suspicious disappointment ha! Appreciate you dropping in John – enjoying all the new places you are introducing me to for our our next trip out west.
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LBJ or whatever he is is awfully cute. You don’t do well with blood letting? Those vampire nurses have to be brutes these days because patient can be awfully violent and abusive. I’ve had so much blood taken out of me over the years, tt’s just another thing that happens. One time when I still have a port in my chest (I’ve been ported and deported twice), the regular nurse asked me if the new nurse in training, who was young and a real knockout, could to the port flush for training. I said sure. She took the 1 inch long, 18 gauge needle and stuck it right in my chest. I said, “Hate to tell you this, but you missed the port!” The other nurse said, “I thought that needle went in awfully easy!” The poor beautiful nurse in training about fell apart. I told it was perfectly okay, she had to learn and to try it again. She got it right the second time.
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“Don’t do well with blood letting” is probably an understatement. I tell everyone it is due to tipping the balance of the perfectly tuned temple – Linda has a much more comic interpretation and likes to bring up the time I allegedly passed out under the nurses station while they were trying to stop one of her gushing nose bleeds – I can assure you that is all a fabricated lie. I have some familiarity with ports from my mother’s battle with cancer and I could barely take that – if I saw a nurse go right through the port while trying to flush it – oh, hell no!! Guaranteed another Linda story with that experience. Kudos for letting her try it again…or she must have been one gorgeous looking nurse, definitely not like the steroid chugging brutes that had me pinned down. Will have to start referring to you as RMT – real man Timothy.
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The pretty nurse missed the port altogether and simply stabbed me. You know how big those needles are from your mom’s port then? Who knows what happened to her. Maybe she because a swimsuit model, as she definitely wouldn’t do well as a brute.
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Missed the port completely, that is even worse!!!! has she considered glasses, Mom’s was like the size of a quarter!?! In honor of your horrifying experience, I will take it upon myself to investigate all the swimsuit models I can find and let you know If I locate her.
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She may have become a Steel Panther groupie. I think I saw her on stage in the Steel Panther clip.
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“No, no, no, honey, I’m ‘researching” Steel Panther groupies to find Tim’s nurse…honest!”
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I’ll vouch for that!
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Speaking of groupies, in one video there was a grandma on stage grabbing Michael’s crotch. Those guys are all-inclusive when it comes to women. BTW. I think On The Prowl is excellent. I got an On The Prowl coffee mug for the office. I agree with you on the lyrics. They could get some serious airplay, but then they would not be SP.
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Does anyone in your office now who SP is? would probably get called down to HR for having that on my desk where I used to work. I wonder if anyone would notice if they came out in normal clothes, swapped in some new lyrics and went mainstream rock – Maybe go back to their commercial fake band Danger Kitty ha.
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People at the office know who SP is. The cup only has the prowling panther and “On The Prowl” on it. It’s a really handsome cup. I also got a 10″ signature 1987 guitar that I added to my Mac Museum. I looked at the real guitar, but $5K is a bit steep.
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Yeah, I’d say 5K is a bit out of my range .. especially now that I’m retired..I have three and I think all together they didn’t cost that much.
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I have around 20 guitars and basses, and while the retail on the brand name guitars and basses are way more than $5K, I didn’t spend too much more than $5k for the whole lot. I paid $2K for my flamenco guitar 25 years ago. It’s rare, 1 of 100 black (rosewood sides and back) concert flamenco guitars by Jose Ramirez. Those 100 guitars are the only black flamenco guitars ever made by Jose Ramirez. It’s worth a small fortune today. Most of the guitars I have I built, the Ibenez guitars I got steep discounts on, and my Gibson Les Paul was a steal.
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That is a lot of axes! The flamenco sounds like a beauty – don’t let Pete Townsend borrow it for a concert ha. I own two Fenders with “scorpions” inlaid on the fretboard. Also have a Gibson I really like. These days do not take the time to play them very often. When the feeling hits, usually pick up the sticks and bang away on the “skins” – incredibly therapeutic, but harder on the major joints. Problem withe the guitars is my fingers have a bit of arthritis in them from all the years in corporate IT.
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Scropions on the fingerboads sound super cool. I built a semi-hollow body Tele-style guitar with a painting of Marble on it that Laurie did. It has a vine enlayed in the fingerboard. My fingertips are numb and my fingers are swollen and arthritic. Playing guitar is a major effort these days. Typing is a major effort, also. I make so many errors typing.
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They are a twin set – one is in the Telecaster line and the other is the Strat line – better guitars than I am as a player, that’s for sure. I didn’t know you were a luthier among your other many talents. My fingers have gotten a bit better since I gave up typing 10 hours a day, then more once I got home – dangers of the trade I guess. Actually helps to go out on our adventures as I don’t have as much time to pound the keyboard. Fortunately, I can blame the college of engineering for my horrible grasp of English (not to mention the fact most of my teachers there were foreign born) – as Brad can attest as he (or his wife) usually catches a lot of my post syntax errors before most of the readers see them.
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I ordered a 75th-anniversary Strat and paid for it. Then Fender stiffed me on it. Some BS about it not passing inspection. Then they kept trying to sell me other special edition Strats. I could seem to get it through the sales girl’s head that I didn’t need another guitar, but I wanted a 75th-anniversary Strat. I might of gotten the 75th-anniversary Tele, also, but I will probably never buy another Fender product after that fiasco. I have a Fender bass and Fender USB speakers along with a bunch of Fender straps.
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Yikes, talk about bad customer service. I have a unnecessarily large Fender Hot Rod tube amp I could probably blow my windows out with that has never been above 5. Beyond that I really do not have a lot of Fender merchandise beyond the guitars. They were bought many years ago so I have not had to deal with the company since – sounds like they might have changed.
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Does your amp go to 11? I’m probably being unfair and too hard on Fender. They just really pissed me off after sending me the preferred customer link for the guitar, and then canceling the order probably because they over sold them. I think the quality control was a lame excuse. They could have sent me one that was good id they had’nt oversold them.
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You probably will not believe this, but I just checked again… the knobs all go to 12. This is similar, but not the exact version as mine (which is a bit older), but you can see from the image they have of the top (underneath their main image) – they all go to 12 – take that Spinal Tap!
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HRDev3-212ML–fender-hot-rod-deville-ml-212-michael-landau-60-watt-2×12-inch-tube-combo-amp
I got a great deal on it as a local music store was going out of business.
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Fender must of seen that as a selling point after Spinal Tap. I have three modern guitar amps, a 10w battery-powered amp that is killer, a 40w amp of the same make, killer, also, and a 100-watt head with a 5-watt practice mode and 5-inch speaker in the head. It’s loud on the 5-watt mode. It’s total Death Star loud on 100 watts with a dual 12-speaker cabinet barely turned up. The 10w and 40w amps tie into mobile apps that give me all the pedal/amp combinations of all the popular guitarists and bands over the years. Those three amps don’t have numbers on any of the dials. My 30-year-old Peavey acoustic/bass amp only goes to a lowly 10 on the level dials.
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BTW I watched a clip from a recent Steel Panther concert and there was a signer on stage signing the goings on and lyrics. Have you seen that before? Satchel mentioned something about deaf girls that I didn’t catch the full comment.
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I have not seen that – will definitely go and check that out, will be “interesting” to see if they actually have “signs” for some of the words in their lyrics. Per your heads up, I did listen to the entire new album on YouTube. Was really impressed about how good it sounded, really stepped up their game – clean up their lyrics a bit and this one would definitely get some airplay. Also liking the new bassist – seems to fit in really well.
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I like Spyder a lot. He is a great bass player and he seems to have better interactions with the band and audience than Lexi, who always seemed to be a little outside of things playing the dumb, sexully confused guy. In a recent interview, Michael said Lexi got married and has a new baby. That made sense why he wouldn’t want to keep playing his role in the group. Plus being on the road all the time again after the pandemic would suck if he’s trying to have a family.
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Lexi looked a whole lot different when he took his wig off, joined that other “cover” band that isn’t that good – probably just had enough of the SP character and I am guessing his new wife probably didn’t appreciate the “competition” from all the scantily clad (or nude) ladies they bring on stage every night ha.
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I don’t his wife would appreciate all those girls and backstage antics.
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That little black spot is how I turned an LBJ into a song sparrow while in SC a few weeks ago. Congrats on surviving the blood draw. Shouldn’t you stay out of direct sunshine for a while?
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I did forget to mention that the American Tree Sparrow can have a small spot as well, but usually not much trouble distinguishing those rufous colored plumpers. Was the SC Song a new lifer? For some reason your comment about staying out of the sun reminded me of Nicholas Cage in Vampire’s Kiss – Campy at best, but that movie cracks me up every time I see it. Luckily they didn’t take enough blood to cause the “turning” so I am still on track for the day races ha!
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Yes, a new +1. Glad I could help with an unintended movie reference. Does that help my Intrigued annual bonus?
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Good to hear although you didn’t really need to travel all that way for that bird as they are hanging out at Detweiller Riverside as I type (I need to get you over there to bump up your life count). Unfortunately, movie quotes and references are a main staple of employment and expected from the already top tier, best in the industry wage system.
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It was a bonus for being there. I’ll work on more obscure references. Well, there it is.
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Good to hear you survived a brush with the angels of mercy 😁. I’ve had a few skirmishes lately myself hindering my usual alligator adventures, I still sneak out though when not medicated. One does need need to have a close up heart to heart discussion with a gator. They don’t listen anyway.
Thanks for the Lincoln Sparrow info. We are out of range but so many critters move our way this gives me a point of reference.
Regards
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I can think of better word for them than “mercy” ha. From the looks into their crazed eyes I could tell they were truly relishing the opportunity. Sorry to hear about your medical skirmishes, best wishes for a full recovery as we all want to see more Gator pictures. I can confirm from my encounters with those prehistoric creatures they don’t seem to care much for what I have to say. An occasional nod, a Crock tear from time to time, but I am pretty sure all they really hear is “blah blah blah, eat me, blah blah blah, eat me, blah blah blah”. You are welcome on the Lincoln’s info, I find it really odd they do not range into your area, but Wally mentioned they get some in west-central Florida – guessing they just have better concealment skills in those parts. Thanks for dropping by Ted.
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That is why they are called vampires… glad you survived. Safe travels to you .
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Surprised they do not have capes included in their uniforms and require no greater than 10W bulbs in the facility. An evil lot I tell ya! As they say, “That which doesn’t kill me, just makes them try harder the next time”. Thanks for the travel wishes.
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Very nice photographs of the Lincoln’s Sparrow! Here in west-central Florida we typically record a half-dozen or so during migration. I suspect they may be more prevalent than the data indicates but the durned little things are so good at remaining hidden!
My favorite nurse of all time told me after one of those blood-letting rituals to “go eat a great big ole steak”. My kinda nurse!
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Thank you Wally, it always helps when they put down their guard and actually perch in a clearing. Hard to believe they would simply ignore the fine weather conditions in your parts and you are probably right, they are really just as abundant there, but have more places to hide. “Great big ole steak” are you sure she wasn’t really asking you if you brought a big wooden ‘STAKE’ – might have been worried you saw through her nurse disguise hehehe. Take it easy Wally. By the way, we’ll be dipping our toes in your state soon (more panhandle) to see what kind of birds we can track down during the upcoming migration.
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Always enjoy when the little buggers sit and contemplate life making it easier to photograph them.
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Yes, completely agree. Read your comment and immediately envisioned our specimen sitting there with a skull in its talons “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio”. Not that would have been an awesome shot – irony is that I am usually cussing Shakespeare every time I see a House Sparrow or Starling. Appreciate you dropping in Jerry, have a great weekend.
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Brian, congratulations on getting a clean bill of health! You should not have to face that ordeal again for quite some time. A very sweet-looking little bird!
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Thank you Cheryl – a nice byproduct of what I have to do to enjoy my endurance hobbies – always happy when I can check that task off for the year (although the follow up visits to the psychiatrist to work through the blood trauma issues are an inconvenience!). You would think a Sparrow that looks this cute would spend more time out in the open so people could enjoy it more – crazy birds ha! Appreciate you coming by Cheryl, hope you are all rested up from your trip with your daughters.
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