Hi, I think there are a lot more of these guys than people realize. If you don't happen to know what a grasshopper sparrow sounds like, take a listen here <https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Grasshopper_Sparrow/sounds> - it's pretty distinctive. At least in Lodi, Ovid & Romulus, many of the fields that harbor bobolinks also have a grasshopper sparrow or two or three if you stop and listen. They don't sing as continually as the bobolinks do, but they pipe up periodically and their song carries surprisingly well. Even the introductory very high tick notes often can be heard - higher and shorter than a Savannah Sparrow's - and the buzzy main part of the song is distinctive and clearly audible over a distance.
Grasshopper Sparrows have been annual residents on the western section of Combs Rd in Ovid and are back again this year, although later than usual. They also are back on McCarriger Road and on Rte 131 just south of Willard Wildlife Management Area (also in Ovid), and may well be in WWMA as well, I haven't had time to check. In years past they have been in the fields leading down to Lodi Point in Lodi, in fields on Hayt Corners Rd near Iron Bridge Road in Romulus, and other spots between Seneca and Cayuga Lakes including many of the grasslands in the National Forest, and likely on the east side of Cayuga Lake, too. As you note birds the Breeding Bird Atlas, you miight want to keep an ear out. Grasshopper Sparrows are singing right now and since they are a good grassland indicator, it might be particularly useful later to have accurate entries for them now. Plus it's fun to find them. Alicia -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
