I have a similar experience to Jeff, here in southern Anne Arundel County. I just don't see Chippers very often in the winter, in any plumage.
Joanne
Joanne Howl, DM
<jovet...>
West River, MD
-----Original Message-----
From: jugbayjs <JugBayJS...>
To: mdbirding <mdbirding...>
Sent: Wed, Mar 13, 2013 7:20 pm
Subject: [MDBirding] Re: FOS chipping sparrow at Jug Bay
Rick:
Not sure why they are so scarce here (southern PG County) in winter. They are
abundant throughout the rest of the year, but I don't recall ever seeing one in
our yard in winter. I ordinarily use seeing one in breeding plumage as a bench
mark for a fos bird, since the rare few I have seen in winter (elsewhere) were
always in winter plumage. The fos CHSPs here have ALWAYS been in breeding
plumage, and normally it is a single bird, seen feeding alone at the feeder
(i.e., avoids other birds). It normally is a good find to see one here (Jug Bay)
on the Christmas count, or one of the other local winter counts!
Cheers-
Jeff Shenot
> That strikes me as weird. We have them here all winter, albeit in low numbers.
Recently the flocks have grown to 30+ birds, many with full orange caps in
breeding plumage. I don't know whether it is unusual for us to have them here in
winter (they breed in our yard as well) or unusual for you not to have them?
>
> We live in southern Carroll County.
>
> Rick Sussman
> Woodbine,MD
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