At Wye I this AM checking on grassland birds I was pleased to see both a 
  Grasshopper Sparrow and Meadowlark, both increasingly scarce even in 
agricultural habitat. More astonishing was to hear and see a singing 
male DICKCISSEL - this in the first ag field one comes to after passing 
the signs proclaiming the U MD complex. With its wooden fence posts, 
uncut alfalfa (?), fence rows, and wide open space Wye I does indeed 
seem ideal habitat for Dickcissel, but I don't remember hearing of any 
reported there.

Dickcissels are making a slow come-back on both the Eastern and Western 
Shores, popping up here and there but not usually returning often to the 
same place year to year. I hope the bird was breeding; hopefully someone 
may spot a female or young. (Danny Poet, maybe?) The male himself offers 
little clue, confining his duties mostly to "lightening his mate's 
efforts with song". This field was not yet cut, tho' it may be soon - I 
saw a flatbed loaded with hay bales. I wondered if this might be a 
progeny of Doug Gill's operation at Chino Farms, where occasionally 
Dickcissels have nested. The digiphoto shows 2 apparent bands, but 
metallic rather than the colored plastic used there.

The Dickcissel is such an odd sparrow - has anyone considered whether it 
might actually be a cross between the first 2 aforementioned species? 
Think about it.

Fred Fallon
Bowie MD