Just got back from a lunchtime visit to Southwest Area Park in Lansdowne, still trying for that elusive Vesper Sparrow for 2006. As I made the final right turn toward the boat ramp (a real hotspot), a large sparrow-like bird flew in front of me, into the sun, and landed on a boulder at the far left side of the parking area. Even at a distance I could see a broken brownish breastband on a very white-looking bird. I was able to walk to within about 30 feet of this guy for crippling looks. Finally it just hopped down to the grass and began foraging.
 
Not wanting to disturb the bird further, I made a quick walking loop through the field to the north of the boat ramp, then back along the road toward my truck. Approaching the "hotspot" bend on foot, 3 sparrows flushed and landed in a sapling at the edge of the marsh. Two were Savannahs, one was a Vesper, giving me a prolonged view of the eye ring, finely streaked gray back, and when it flew, the white outer retrices. 
 
As I left, the Bunting was still perching on rocks and foraging in the grass at the edge of the parking area. It seemed partial to a flat-topped, table-like boulder about 100 feet to the left of the port-a-pot. I've often considered the possibility of Snow Bunting here but never really expected to find one, certainly not in October.
 
Other birds seen were BALD EAGLE, GREAT EGRET, PALM WARBLER, FIELD, SAVANNAH, SONG, SWAMP, WHITE-THROATED and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW.
 
Joel Martin
Catonsville, MD

 
 
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