Spanish Sparrow

Description:

My spotting # 20,000. Male Spanish Sparrow. I have seen very few Spanish Sparrows since coming to Spain 13 years ago, in fact just 2 and only one poor photograph. On this occasion, while in Portugal we stopped to photograph a small bird perched in the top of a tree. Looking at the picture I noticed straight away that it was not what we thought so I moved slowly closer, taking several more pictures. The bird just sat still watching. At that moment I thought that his would be a good subject for my Spotting #20,000.

Habitat:

Open country with scattered trees on the inland side of the Lagoa dos Salgados nature reserve.

Notes:

Interestingly, this bird was spotted outside the normal breeding range for the species and outside the wintering range also, being close to the SW tip of Portugal.It has often been thought that some may remain in southern Spain during winter so finding one in SW Portugal might be quite rare, I will do some checking.