Re: Sedge wren at Wakefield Park
Howard Youth (hmyouth@erols.com)
Tue, 15 Sep 1998 21:04:58 -0400
Todd,
In addition to the notes that Mike Collins has posted on this morning's
bird, I wanted to add the following:
The first impression with the bare eye was that we were looking at a house
wren. The bill and tail and body were of similar proportions. Once we had
it in the binos, it afforded us fantastic views of its head and back, which
told a different story.
The most noticeable difference at first glance was the long striping on the
back. The streaked crown was also a very clear field mark. An oblong
unsteaked tan patch between the auriculars and shoulder (see a field guide
to note this mark) was also easy to see (kind of a similar to an imm.
clay-colored sparrow's gray patch, which sits in the same location). The
breast and flanks were buffy, the throat whitish. The cocked, brown tail
showed darker barring dorsally. The bird hopped around in low shrubs,
affording good views. The soft "chuck" note was noticeably different than
the more abrasive house wren calls.The eyeline, while not as prominent as a
Carolina's, was whitish and more noticeable than a house wren's tan eyeline.
Note that the sedge wren is not just a bird of sedgy marshes. It also
breeds and migrates through wet meadows. I've run into this bird twice
before on the Western Shore: once at Layhill Park (May 13, 1995) and once
at Myrtle Grove (October 13, 1996).
I hope these notes will help you track one down sometime soon.
Sincerely,
Howard Youth
Rockville, MD
hmyouth@erols.com
At 04:50 PM 9/15/98 EDT, you wrote:
>Would it be possible to get details on the sedge wren seen at Wakefield Park?
>I have always found this a difficult identification and I am curious to see
>what field marks you saw and used to identify this bird.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Todd Day
>Jeffersonton, VA
>