Barbara and I received a telephone call around 1:30 p.m. today from Sam and Patty Oliveri. They are feeder watchers on the Rockford CBC. They have a lot of bird feeders, and have had some very interesting birds and other wildlife in their yard. They discovered a bird at their feeder that they believed was a Eurasian Tree Sparrow and asked if we wanted to come up and see it. We threw on our boots and coats and drove there. Sure enough, an adult Eurasian Tree Sparrow was at their feeder. With their permission, we put out the word.

Other birders showed up pretty quickly, but by then a Cooper’s Hawk had scattered the birds. After waiting a while, some folks left. The 3 who stayed were rewarded when the bird returned at 4:08 p.m.

Sam and Patty live at 6608 Halley Rd, Rockford. This is outside of the Rockford city limits. Halley Rd. runs east off of Meridian Road about 1/4 mile south of the Cemetary Rd. intersection with Meridian. Their house is about 1/4 mile east of Meridian, first driveway on the south side of the road. You should call first to see if they are home, if the bird is there, and if it is convenient for birders to come by and look for it. The bird is not visible from the driveway. It is necessary to go inside their house, so please understand if they tell you if certain times are not convenient. Their # is 815-963-3863.

As far as I know, this is the first Winnebago County record of this species. Unfortunately, they did not see it yesterday during the Rockford CBC.

Dan Williams