Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 14:15:04 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Hilton, Rob" Subject: The search for a gray-headed Fox Sparrow MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-2" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable This morning Lisa Shannon and I spent about an hour and a quarter very close to this spot and the only Fox Sparrows we found were of the expected northern/eastern red variety. We left shortly before 10 am as we could hear the siren song of Starbucks coming from the distant south. All the Waxwings were Cedar, all the Chickadees seemed to be Black-capped, all the Zonotrichias were White-throated, etc. etc. The light rain was pleasant after such a long spell of warm and dry weather. Cheers,=20 Rob Hilton rhilton@csa.com Bethesda, Md. ----------------------------- Paul O'Brien wrote:=20 Subject: Possible Slate-colored Fox Sparrow at Rachel Carson From: "Paul O'Brien" Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 17:23:19 EST This morning (11/23) from about 10AM to noon, Michael O'Brien, Louise Zemaitis, Gary Rosenberg and I birded the "b" area of Rachel Carson Conservation Park off Zion Road in Montgomery Co. (see page 87 of the new Birder's Guide to Mont. Co.). We entered a well defined trail toward the east that began almost as far south of the one-lane bridge as the bridge is from the parking area. As we climbed the first rise in the trail (just a few feet off the road) a Fox Sparrow jumped up to a perch about 8 feet off the ground to our right. It had a flat gray head, nape and auriculars that contrasted markedly with strongly rufous wings and tail. The malar streak was nearly black, but the spotting on the sides exhibited increasing rufous tones from the shoulder to the flanks. I could not see the mantle. [snip] ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================