And in Australia this is a bit of a challenge. We only have two sparrow species, with both of them being introduced. House Sparrows are pretty common in my 5MR, as they are in most of Melbourne, but the Eurasian Tree Sparrow not so much. There are a few reliable locations where birders will seek them out because a tick is a tick after all, but none that I knew of anywhere near my 5MR.
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| the only time I've seen them is at Serendip - this scruffy-looking one is from 2018 |
But in August I saw an eBird report of some Eurasian Tree Sparrows in Abbotsford - interesting! I had been thinking about going to a market at Abbotsford Convent anyway, and then Jen announced the challenge so really I had no excuse by then but to go and look for them.
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| PT birding! |
I was catching public transport to the market and my walk from the station would take me right past the location mentioned in the report - see, no excuse!
And by the way, a warning: I didn't take my binoculars or camera with me on this outing so if you're offended by phone photos in which you can barely see any birds, look away now.