[texbirds] Striped Sparrow today, Tuesday Jan 20, 2015 - yes
- From: "" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "drbirdie@xxxxxxx" for DMARC)
- To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 22:38:15 -0500
Hi Texbirders,
I saw the Striped Sparrow today at the previously-described location on or near
CR 428 in Williamson County, SE of Granger Lake. The bird made a brief
appearance from 11:45 to 11:50 a.m., foraging in the gravel beside the road on
the north side (near the grassy field) opposite the yellow sign and the two low
utility boxes. The bird also briefly perched on the edge of the road, which
thrilled me and Dan Smith of Austin and Robert from Tyler. The bird stayed in
the shadows of trees lining the road, but otherwise provided great views. A
truck came by and the Striped Sparrow flushed back into the edge of the Johnson
Grass field and may have briefly come down to the leaf litter on the same side
of the road until another vehicle came by and flushed the birds again. It did
not reappear again for the remaining 10 minutes that I was there.
I heard from Robert that the bird had been seen earlier in the morning on the
opposite side of the road at 9:25 a.m., about 5 minutes before Robert arrived.
Another group of birders arrived just before noon, and I don't know if they saw
the bird again or not.
An adult Red-headed Woodpecker continues at this location (locally uncommon to
rare), along with excellent numbers and variety of sparrows, including
Chipping, Savannah, all 3 Zonotrichias (many White-crowned and Harris's and a
few White- throated Sparrows), and all three Melospizas (lots of Lincoln's, a
few Song and one Swamp Sparrow at the roadside). Vesper Sparrows have been
reported from this location, but I saw none there today although they may be
present in more open areas nearby. I did not see or hear White-breasted
Nuthatches today.
There is a prairie-race Merlin nearby masquerading as a Prairie Falcon - it is
pale and large, probably a female.
It was a great morning on which to squeeze in a bit of birding before or after
other duties.
Weather is supposed to get rainy and colder late tomorrow and Wednesday.
Good birding ya'll,
Byron Stone, Austin
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