VA BIRDers,
There was an adult Harris's Sparrow at Julie Metz wetlands today. First found
at about noon and last heard at about 130pm.
I had visited this location looking for vagrants. I was walking the trail
along the first cell, directly north of the parking lot. This cell extends
very far north into the Neabsco Cr. marsh. Near the northern extent of the
trail, I heard a hard chip note which initially sounded like that of a Brown
Thrasher. Some pishing eliciting a few more chips which were a hard, somewhat
loud "chek" but unlike the snappy, abrupt and loud note of the Brown Thrasher
as it was more drawn out. It matched no other chips in my memory. Continued
pishing yielded nothing but White-throats and many Song and Swamps.
I continued down the trail and stopped near the little bridge where the cell
drains into the marsh. Looking over bushes to see some ducks I heard several
nearby sparrows. Pishing again brought up a few more White-throats and then
some.
An adult Harris's Sparrow came out of the vine tangle and we looked eye to eye.
The rich, golden brown color of the sides of the head (the sun was over my
shoulder) were exquisite. Dark black facial coloration around the pinkish bill
and down the top of the breast, ending in a set of connected black blotches on
the lower breast. An unmistakeable bird.
I called Marc Ribaudo and a few other people with the news. When Marc arrived,
we worked the area for about 45 minutes but to no avail. Marc's pishing did
result in more Harris's chipping but we could not bring the bird up. This last
location was in the brush between the aforementioned little bridge and the
blind in the next cell.
The location is the northernmost extent of the cell and adjacent to the NW cell
(which has the little bird blind). The edge is a rich assortment of Green
briar, Virginia Creeper, Poison Ivy, and other vines, short emergent trees, a
few taller trees, several snags, and other bushes plus lots of weedy,
seed-bearing vegetation along the edges. It is dense. It may be problematical
to find this bird. But there is some reason for optimism as this habitat is
somewhat similar to the area the species breeds and supports a couple of dozen
White-throats.
Kurt Gaskill
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