This morning I found a Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow at the Swan Harbor  
impoundment in Harford County.  I believe this is a first county  record.  The 
bird on a cattail for several minutes about 20 feet away  providing excellent 
views.  Unfortunately, the camera battery was dying and  I was unable to get 
digibinoc photos.  My one handheld photo  doesn't show much.  The bird had a 
strong, but no  vibrant, orange coloring on the upperchest with diffuse black  
streaks.  This leads me to believe it was of the James Bay _alterus_  subspecies.  
The bird was with many other sparrows along the east edge of  the 
impoundment, the side closest to the house.  
 
Other birds in the area:
 
Canada Goose - 300 in the fields
Mallard - 2
Green-winged Teal - 50
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
Killdeer - 30 in the fields
Pectoral Sandpiper - 3
Wilson's Snipe - 3
Horned Lark - 50 in the fields
Tree Swallow - 75
American and Fish Crows - 200+ in the fields both species present 
American Pipit - 20 with the larks
Western Palm Warbler - 3
Yellow Palm Warbler - 2
Field Sparrow - 1 seemed odd in the cattails
Savannah Sparrow - 50+
Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow - 1
Song Sparrow - 25
Swamp Sparrow - 10
White-crowned Sparrow - 3 ad 1 imm 2
Bobolink - 4 getting late
Red-winged Blackbird - 100
Eastern Meadowlark - 1
American Goldfinch - 1
 
Matt Hafner
Bel Air, MD