Hi Everyone,

Jim Brighton and I birded the lower Eastern Shore today, starting the day with a picturesque dawn on Rumbly Point Road. We spent the first hour of daylight watching the marsh come alive, then slowly worked our way over to Pocomoke Sound WMA on Back Shelltown Road. We then visited Vessey Orchard and birded the hedgerows and orchards there. Our last stop was Nutter's Neck in Wicomico Co., where Sam Dyke, we'd learned, had a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW on 10/23. We were joined by Mike Walsh as we hiked the field edges, and ran into Stan Arnold and Jeff Shenot on our way out. Our best birds of the day were three NELSON'S SPARROWs on Rumbly Point Road and one VESPER SPARROW at Nutter's Neck.

As we stepped from the car just before dawn at Rumbly Point, already there were black ducks and Greater Yellowlegs flying around over the marsh. A Marsh Wren was singing persistently beside the car, and a Virginia Rail called a couple times near the north end of the road. We walked slowly down the dirt road, kicking up Savannah and Swamp Sparrows with every other step. We were hoping to spot a NELSON'S SPARROW or two here, and it didn't take long to have some luck. Jim spotted one that perched up, got me on it, and soon we were enjoying morning-light scope views from just 15 or 20 feet away. Although only about 10 seconds long, it was my favorite view of a Nelson's Sparrow to date. Stunning!

Like the bird that John Hubbell and I saw yesterday at sunrise by headlights, this bird had a very dark, blackish crown and relatively pronounced and contrasting streaking on the flanks and breast. This morning's first two birds also had very strong white braces on their backs, which I was able to see on yesterday's bird as well. This points solidly to the two interior subspecies of Nelson's Sparrow (Nominate/nelsoni or James Bay/alterus), more closely - I understand - to the former. That said, there is a lot we don't know about separating these two from one another, and non-subvirgatus (non-Atlantic/Acadian) is a much safer label. My labeling of yesterday morning's bird as a probable nominate was a little too strong, so I'll concede to the mild hell I caught from Hafner and call it non-Acadian Nelson's. He keeps me honest!  

My favorite on-line reference for studying Nelson's Sparrow subspecies is a gallery compiled by Tom Johnson on his excellent photo site:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jaegermaster/ComparisonOfSharpTailedSparrows#

For anyone hoping to see a Nelson's Sparrow without tromping around in the marsh, an early morning walk down Rumbly Point Road over the coming weeks is a great bet.

Other birds present at Rumbly Point were Greater Yellowlegs (17), Lesser Yellowlegs (1), Wilson's Snipe (1), Forster's Tern (5), Northern Harrier (4), and Eastern Meadowlark (9). Just up the road at the entrance to Irish Grove we had more nice but expected birds - both kinglets, Brown Creeper, two Eastern Phoebes, four Tree Swallows, and a Brown-headed Nuthatch.

Pocomoke Sound held impressive numbers of Myrtle Warblers (est. 130) and Swamp Sparrows (48), as well as the following: Winter Wren (1), Hermit Thrush (2), Brown-headed Nuthatch (6), Slate-colored Junco (7), White-throated Sparrows (18).

Vessey Orchard was birdy as always, but wasn't handing out any rarities today. Among the sightings worth mentioning were 11 Bald Eagles overhead and vocal constantly, Cooper's Hawk (1), Yellow Palm (7), Western Palm (3), small numbers of all the most expected sparrows, and 13 active and vocal Eastern Meadowlarks. We probably set some personal insect late dates with Black Swallowtail, Common Checkered Skipper, and Red Admiral. We also had more traditional late flyers - American Lady, Monarch, Common Buckeye, Cabbage White, and Orange Sulfur.

Our last stop was Nutter's Neck in Wicomico, where Jim, Mike Walsh, and I spent a lot of time working the abundant sparrows amidst the hedgerows and patches of sunflowers and soybeans. Jim spotted the bird of the afternoon, which was a VESPER SPARROW that perched motionlessly for a long time, eventually allowing all of us extended views. I understand Jim Stasz found three VESPERs earlier in the day. The Vesper was a county bird for Mike Walsh, so Jim and I enjoyed the warm fuzzy of charity work. There's just nothing quite like finding county birds for the locals. Other birds included Killdeer (48), Eastern Phoebe (3), Brown Thrasher (3), Horned Lark (15), Hermit Thrush (3), Song Sparrow (36), White-throated Sparrow (34), Swamp Sparrow (13), Field Sparrow (11), and Savannah Sparrow (5). We also had two different BLUE GROSBEAKs. Butterflies included one Cloudless Sulfur, two Variegated Fritillaries, and a couple more Checkered Skippers.

I'll post the bad photos of the California Gull tomorrow night. What a weekend!

Have a good week,

Bill

Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland

http://www.billhubick.com