I had an interesting and challenging hour of birding at the Freese Road gardens at midday on Thursday.
Among the usual abundance of Song Sparrows in various plumages, I saw one LINCOLN'S SPARROW (north-central section), two SWAMP SPARROWS (I freed one from a narrow weedy gap between fences), several bright SAVANNAH SPARROWS, a few FIELD SPARROWS, and a CHIPPING SPARROW, plus a western PALM WARBLER and a COOPER'S HAWK. The Palm Warbler had a short forecrown stripe, a mark I hadn't ever noticed on Palm Warblers before. South of the parking area, I had a long look at another Spizella, which had striking bright orange-buff underparts (like a rufous Field Sparrow), very bold lateral throat stripes, and somewhat less bold and incomplete lower frame of the auriculars. Alas, I forgot to take note of the lores, and failed to get a look at the bird's rump. Nevertheless, as I've observed many fall Chipping Sparrows but none as buffy and boldly marked as this one, I think it's quite possible that this was a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW. I also saw another sparrow that seemed to have white outer tail feathers, but didn't get enough of a look to confirm ID. Mark Chao -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES Archives: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
