Bill has made me feel guilty for not reporting that two of the ten or so
grackles that frequent my feeder at work (Edgewood, Harford CO.) are the
Bronze-type... I have also had as many as 6 Chipping Sparrows daily since
early January. The other day I spoted a group of Sparrows elsewhere on APG
(Edgewood) there were at least 15 chippers in that group; ergo, there seems
to be a large wintering population of Chipping Sparrows on the Gunpowder
Neck of Harford County.

tootles,
Chris Starling
North East, MD

------------------snip-----------------------------------

On Fri, Feb 20, 2009 at 1:16 PM, Bill Hubick <> wrote:

> Hi Paul,
>
> Like Bronzed Grackles and Gambel's White-crowned Sparrows, I expect
> Black-backed Robins can be found regularly in Maryland if actively sought.
> That being said, I have been looking pretty carefully for a couple years now
> and have seen just this one Black-backed Robin that we were confident
> calling. Like others have suggested regarding grackle subspecies in the
> past, I would suggest that more of us look for and report this subspecies.
> Good birding!
>
> Bill
>
>
>
>