Hmmm.  I hesitate, but will post anyway since I had a good weekend looking for sparrows in PG County, but I can't say I was as happy with the outcome as Bill!  Basically I ended up frustrated because I may have seen a Nelson's Sparrow also, which would have been my first ever, but I did not get a photo or video and saw it so briefly that I was unsatisfied with the determination.  I am unfamiliar with the species behavior, but Bill's description of their sighting sounds painfully familiar!

It was at Mt Calvert, and I had found 9 sparrow species there over brief visits on Friday and Sunday this weekend.  Most notable was Lincoln Sparrows, which I found there on two days and elsewhere in PG also also (seen each day this weekend; 6 total!).  From my experience with Lincon's, they are shy and secretive, but I had great luck this weekend with numerous good views.  I had just seen a Lincoln, and then flushed what I thought was going to be another one based on its color and behavior.  The bird perched in a small tree at the edge of the wetland/field edge.  I had a clear view for about 5 seconds, and right away I noted the streaking was not as dark or defined as Lincoln's (when facing me) and the facial color was brighter below the eye (buffy orange in cheek area).  What threw me off was the stripe over the eye was not orange, at all, as I had remembered in photos and in my field guide.  It was dull gray.  The central crown stripe between the brown was also visible as definitely gray.  I wanted to get a video or photo so I got my camcorder out, but when I reached for it the bird dove down into the thick brush at the swamp edge.  I waited quietly for a long time but it did not re-appear, and I tried pishing but that didn't work either.

I left and returned later, twice, and both times I flushed a small bird from the vicinity of same area that may have been the same bird, but it never perched like the one did the first time when it flushed.  I don't know, it dove for cover so fast it did not allow me time for even a glimpse of it with the binoculars while in flight.

Are these birds notoriously shy?  I thought Lincoln's were shy, and I have had my patience tested while waiting for a Grasshopper Sparrow to show, but this bird was much worse!

Cheers-
Jeff Shenot
Croom MD