Hi, Late this afternoon Scott Meyer and I found a Eurasian Tree Sparrow in western Yellow Medicine County. It was at the bridge over Florida Creek on 140th Street, just north of 250th Ave, about two miles west of county 15 and 3 miles north of MN 68; the same location as the Say's Phoebe from a few years ago. It was first seen on the bridge railing as we approached from the south, the chestnut cap was immediately obvious, and Scott called out "Eurasian Tree Sparrow!". Over the next hour or so we saw the bird many tmes, but generally for just a few seconds before it would disappear into the leaves or under the bridge. It was usually accompanied by two male House Sparrows, providing good opportunities for comparison, the bird was noticeably smaller than the House Sparrows, with a reddish brown crown, white cheek patch with a black spot, and white collar. Photographs were obtained but won't be available until late tomorrow. The Eurasian Tree Sparrow did not stray far from the bridge for the entire time we were present, and was observed to to fly under the bridge several times.
Doug Kieser Scott Meyer Hennepin County ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
