Grasshopper Sparrow visits Krzyzewskiville

After watching Duke handle Winston-Salem State last night in an exhibition basketball game I was walking through Krzyzewskiville to meet my dad at the Sheffield Tennis Center when I noticed a small bird fluttering against a ground-level window.  I easily caught it by hand and brought it into the light...

Grasshopper Sparrow

...a Grasshopper Sparrow ?!?

I got my brother to snap a few iPhone photos and then let it go...

Grasshopper Sparrow

The bird was clearly trying to migrate. Perhaps it struck a window and then got against the northwest face of the building.

This was my first ever Grasshopper Sparrow on migration and an exceptionally late one at that.  There are only 3 prior eBird records of the species in North Carolina for the month of November.

Grasshopper Sparrow

Since birds are known to be portentous (Homer et al., ca. 700 BC), I'll go ahead and declare this to be a good omen for the Duke tennis teams this coming season.