This sparrow typically flies to the top of a bush when startled, instead of diving for cover!

The Harris’s Sparrow spends the winter months in a relatively small area of the south-central U.S., and often occurs in small flocks. Unlike most birds, which usually try to hide in dense cover when disturbed, Harris’s Sparrows perch on the top of a bush or brush pile to have a look around.

The remote northern breeding range of the Harris’s Sparrow helped to make it one of the last songbird nests in North America to be discovered by scientists.