I went over to the northeast bend of Brown Rd (S) for sparrows this AM but batted out on Vespers and Savannahs. I found SONG SPARROW, CHIPPING SPARROW, AMERICAN TREE SPARROW by the third parking lot along with EASTERN PHOEBE, TREE SWALLOW, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, and Starlings, Robins, Jays, Crows, Chickadees, etc. Then hearing trilling that didn't seem long enough to be Chipping, I started for the marshy field to the east of the parking lot. Just as I turned in that direction, a strange call put me on a rapidly descending Snipe sp. (just a silhouette) who landed in that field. After reaching a good view of the marsh grasses and shrubs, I easily found singing SWAMP SPARROW in numbers, some sitting high on low shrubs to give good views while trilling. In between traffic noise, I clearly heard the kid-DICK kid-DICK kid-DICK of a VIRGINIA RAIL male song several times, at intervals of several minutes. Never saw it as it was down in the weeds. No response calls.
For a day promising to be nice later, I got sprinkled on twice by cold rain in the hour I was out. Birding! ______________________ Chris Pelkie Research Analyst Bioacoustics Research Program Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road Ithaca, NY 14850 -- 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/ --
