Hello Everybody,
Not sure if I will start a fire storm with this one... but it may be a good discussion topic. I am unsure of the appropriateness of laying out bird food in the field when trying to entice a specific bird such as the Clay-colored Sparrow. Certainly it can be argued there are times when it is warranted or justified... winter stray hummingbirds for instance that presumably would die without an allocated food source; but this deal with the sparrow seems too much like hunters 'baiting' in a deer. A few years back photographers in NY state used caged mice to attract a Northern Hawk Owl, something I believe was universally detested. Clearly this is not the same category of interference (and I realize of course that we all leave out food in our feeders at home), but there seems to me to be a bit of a difference between a home-based feeder and laying out food from time to time when we are trying to watch a single bird. If nothing else... the 'sport' of trying to attract the bird with pishing and so-forth is reduced a bit by using seed to attract them. I hope I am not stepping on anybody's toes by sending this... rather I just wanted to throw something out there and see how others felt.
Best birding wishes...
Russ Kovach
-----Original Message-----
From:
To:
Sent: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 11:40 AM
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Clay-colored Sparrow Logistics
Elaine,
Yesterday Jeff Culler and I parked off the road a few feet before the stone
driveway. No one said anything to us. I think you could park at the office
building as long as you are out of the way and parking lot isn't crowded.
I'd try again, be patient, and you might try spreading some millet, like I
did. Slow walking moved the birds.
Look for a definitely smaller sparrow with a pale breast, among the many
Song Sparrows. It was very active so we only had quick looks. Jeff and I
were there over two hours before the fog began to lift, the sun came out,
the birds became active, and Mike spotted it.
You might want to ask Sean McCandless to email you his pictures, which
should help with the id.
Good luck,
-Joe
-----Original Message-----
From: Maryland Birds & Birding [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Elaine Hendricks
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 8:38 AM
To:
Subject: [MDOSPREY] Clay-colored Sparrow Logistics
Last Friday afternoon (January 12) I stopped by the site on Bulle Rock
Parkway on my way home from North East, where I had
searched for the Iceland Gull (in vain, as it turned out) that Sean
McCandless has been seeing in the town park. At the Clay-colored
Sparrow site, however, I was scared off by an earth-moving machine that was
working on the dirt pile alongside the erosion control
fence. Also, it wasn't clear to me that I could "get away with" parking on
the gravel pull-off. I briefly considered parking in the lot of
the nearby office building but decided that might be risky, too. And since
the light was beginning to fade, and no one had reported
seeing the bird during the week anyway...I didn't stop to try to find it.
Now I'm kicking myself, of course, because it would be (or
would have been) a very nice life bird for me.
So, if any regular readers of MDOsprey saw the bird during the week: Did
you have any encounters with the construction crew? Did
anyone say "You can't park there" or "You're on private property?"
Thanks!
Elaine Hendricks
Greenbelt, MD (PG County)
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