VA Birders:
I spent several hours at Julie Metz today looking for the Harris's Sparrow.
It was only my second time and a nice day so I wasn't too disappointed at not
being able to find it.
About 1 pm a mixed flock of 20 or so birds gathered to feed on the trail
paralleling the road - east of the monument. These were mostly American
Tree,
Field and Song Sparrow. It was actually the most American Tree Sparrows I had
ever seen together. One bird however was different than the rest. It had
distinctive white facial markings - an eye line and second white line across
the
cheek below the eye. It had a clear white breast with no central spot. The
bird stayed (about 40 feet away) and continued to feed in the grass next to the
trail while I thumbed through my National Geographic. After a few minutes I
concluded that the best fit was a Clay Colored Sparrow. I went back and
looked for the buffy cental crown stripe and decided it was there, but much
less
obvious than the facial stripes. My main problem was that I had never actually
identified a Clay Colored Sparrow in the field and had only seen one briefly
once before. By the time I tried to find the bird a third time to look for
more field marks, it had disappeared.
Hopefully other birders looking for the Harris's Sparrow will keep an eye out
for this birds and provide more expert feedback as to what it is.
Bill Cross
Arlington
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