Great work by the roundup folks over the weekend! I was sorry to miss all
the festivities but happy enough to follow up some of their great birds this
weekend. The adult Harris's Sparrow was present again at 2:00 and 4:30 this
afternoon in the northeasternmost corner (along fenceline) of the CBBT north
toll
plaza's rest-area parking lot, as well as on the Butterfly Trail of the
Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR, which is immediately adjacent, seen by Tom
Saunders
and myself. Also here were 2 Lincoln's Sparrows, 1-2 Clay-colored Sparrows, a
Vesper Sparrow, and 11-12 White-crowned Sparrows among clouds of Song, Swamp,
and White-throated Sparrows, about 26 Field Sparrows, 1 Fox Sparrow, and 4
Savannah Sparrows. I worked the trail all morning (7-11:30) and saw only a
Clay-colored and had a flyover Lapland Longspur (in a nice morning flight that
included many pipits, larks, blackbirds, and robins); the afternoon was more
productive, although I heard the Harris's singing in the distance at about
0730!
Cursory birding elsewhere produced only the regular sparrows (minus Chipping);
I couldn't refind any of the Lark Sparrows, but a Seaside Sparrow was at
Magotha Landing, on the north side of the road at the end. Tom and I also saw
an
ad. female Peregrine in the morning and an American Woodcock fly by in broad
daylight at 3:00 or so! (We did not see the first-winter Harris's Sparrow
noted Friday through Sunday.)
Les Willis saw Acadian Sharp-tailed Sparrows around Bennett's Creek mouth
this weekend, and Bob Ake and Bill Keith found an Ipswich Sparrow on the CBBT.
The only real "missing" sparrow of the weekend was thus Grasshopper Sparrow,
rare this late (but several were found at Cape May). Kiptopeke fields are
probably the best bet for this or Le Conte's, away from the CBBT.
I'm not sure whether Todd Day and others broke the single-day Virginia record
for sparrow species, which has stood as 12 October 1980 -- some 17 species
(not including towhee, or junco -- or House Sparrow!) were noted on the
Eastern
Shore and the CBBT that day by Rich Rowlett and other parties, who found and
photographed the likes of Bachman's, Henslow's, Grasshopper, and Clay-colored
on the CBBT alone. Since that time, Sharp-tailed Sparrow has been split,
giving modern counters an advantage (of one).
If I don't miss my count, Sunday's observers had 14 species altogether.
However, if one defines sparrows more broadly, the Snow Bunting makes that 15
species. With sparrows seen today (Lincoln's & Seaside), plus longspur, the
noon-to-noon today from yesterday through this morning comes to 18, or 20 if
one
counts junco and towhee. And there are still several species more possible.
So, a very sparrow-rich area at this time of year!
Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, VA
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