Brown Creeper Zipped In

Despite being out and about a lot this year, there are a number of common birds that I have yet to see in 2012.  The Brown Creeper was one of those. Last week while pursuing the Clay-colored Sparrow (dip!), I was just standing and visually scouring the trees, shrubs and ground. Then, out of the blue, in flew this Brown Creeper and landed on a nearby light pole.

It was particularly skittish and only stayed about one minute before flying off into a stand of trees.  I moved over to watch and wait.  The creeper is known to work its way up the trunk of a tree in a spiraling manner and then drop again to the bottom of the tree. I was going to be patient and wait for this to happen to try to get some better pictures when the creeper reached a "branchless" section of the tree.

However, I caught sight of another bird flying by that "could" have been the Clay-colored Sparrow. Distracted, I didn't ID the passing bird, and I lost the Brown Creeper when I looked away. I can only liken birding to the Barnum and Bailey Three-ring Circus. There is often so much going on, you are sure to miss something special while already gazing at something extraordinary.