[TN-Bird] Lewis Co.: Henslow's and Grasshopper Sparrows, Dickcissel
- From: Bill Pulliam <bb551@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2006 11:39:41 -0500
While helping Cynthia Rohrbach with her bird surveys at The Farm this
morning we located a singing Henslow's Sparrow in one of their large
unmowed fields. The Farm is in southeastern Lewis County, near
Summertown, and very close to the triple junction point of Lewis,
Maury, and Lawrence Counties. The bird was "singing" (hiccuping)
from a low perch, with its cute green head and reddish back visible.
When we returned to the spot about an hour later with the GPS
(N35d29m1.3s, W87d20m5.0s) the bird was still singing, but no longer
perched in sight. There was a Dickcissel singing farther from the
road in the same general area. The habitat was classic: large field
that has not been mowed in at least a year, moderately dense grasses
with a standing crop of dead mixed with the live. The standing dead
is primarily fescue and broomsedge. There are a few forbs, and
virtually no woody vegetation. Johnson grass is only present
sparsely. This is in a upland barrens area at about 1000' elevation,
by the way. There may well be more Henslow's in the field; we did
not search exhaustively and the bird we did locate was close to the
main road.
On the way home I stopped at the Lewis County Industrial Park in
Hohenwald off highway 20 (almost entirely vacant, mostly large grassy
fields), and relocated a Grasshopper Sparrow that Shane Newbold had
tipped me off to. I found it interesting that I found no Grasshopper
Sparrows in the Henslow's field, and no Henslow's in the Grasshopper
field. The flora of the fields and the standing crop of live grass
is similar, but the Grasshopper Sparrow spot (N35d31m53s, W87d32m06s)
was lacking the standing dead, having been mowed more recently. It
also lacked Dickcissels, but had a much higher abundance of Eastern
Meadowlarks.
I'm curious if there have ever been any other Henslow's records from
Lewis County. I don't believe there have been any county records on
the BBA or BBS. Of course it is one of North America's most easily
overlooked birds.
Bill Pulliam
Hohenwald TN
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