Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 08:39:57 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Lovelace, Glen" Subject: Re: Vesper Sparrows MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Hello All, My experience with Vespers has been to not find them in cornfields in mid-summer. Each year I patrol an area in western Sussex, the southern tip of Caroline and the northeastern corner of Dorchester counties and usually find 10-12 different Vesper locations. Oak Grove Rd is by far the most reliable for the entire season and the most numerous (5 singing birds last summer, 3 max this year). When I find the first birds in April, most of the locations are fields that simply have yet to be cultivated, including fields of last year's corn stubble (the other sites are pastures). They seem to like the corn stalks as singing perches. Up until 2-3 years ago, a good bit of sorghum was grown in the area and the Vespers loved sorghum stubble fields. But that crop has fallen out of favor after some poor yields. If the field is turned over (plowed or disked) during the spring the Vespers will likely move on. This happen to approx. half of the April locations. If no-till planting is used, the Vespers will often stay. They only have to survive the day of planting and the chemical application. This is the case on Oak Grove Rd where this year's soybean crop has been planted in last year's stubble. I can't say that I have actually seen Vespers associated with a cornfield in July, but it could be because I never looked. As far as the range on Delmarva, I believe Vespers are much more widespread the most people realize. All of the DE birders seem to go to this one spot near Ellendale for 1 or 2 birds (I suppose because it is conveniently on the way to the coast). There are a few birds in the countryside between Seaford, Georgetown and Bridgeville. I recently located one more east of Greenwood. To the south, there are a few between Laurel, DE and Sharptown, MD (For you county listers, try State Line Rd near Sharptown for a Wicomico Vesper). To the north, I have heard the in western Kent Co, DE, southeast of Marydel and have been told that they are in nearby northern Caroline as well. I have had the idea to explore southwestern Kent Co, DE in search of more (a lot of pastures here) but I have yet to find the time. Good Birding, Glen Lovelace III Seaford, DE PS - I am happy to see reports of more people visiting Oak Grove Rd. Please drop me a line of what you see so that I can incorporate in it into my local records. Thanks. > -----Original Message----- > From: David Mozurkewich [SMTP:mozurk@BELLATLANTIC.NET] > Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 8:33 PM > To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM > Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Vesper Sparrows > > Fred, > > Interesting? yes. Surprising? no. Believe it or not, corn fields are the > habitat you want to check to find breeding Vesper Sparrows in this part of > the country. Or at least that is what I remember from a quick read of the > Pennsylvania Breeding Bird Atlas a few years ago. Sorry, I don't have a > copy handy to check the exact wording. > > Ever since then, I've been planning to check this claim by racking up a > lot Vesper Sparrows during the doldrums of mid-summer. But so far I > haven't; corn fields without Vesper Sparrows are really boring. > > Anyone have any hard data? > > Dave > David Mozurkewich > Seabrook, PG MD USA > mozurk@bellAtlantic.net > > > On Tue, 17 Jul 2001, Fred Fallon wrote: > > > The Vesper Sparrows reported earlier on Osprey, on Oak Grove Rd between > > Federalsburg (CN)and Reliance(DE), were still singing on Sunday. Two > > males were seen on phone wires just 1/4 mile E of Rt 577. > > Interestingly, the surrounding fields are in corn and soybeans - but > > with a substrate of last year's stubble. Perhaps they can use this > > structure for nesting even in a cultivated field. > > ======================================================================= > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================