After the Montgomery Bird Club annual Presidents walk at Hughes Hollow. a few of us followed up on the earlier report of a Vesper Sparrow on West Offutt Road in Montgomery County.  Using good directions from Jim Moore, at about 11:30 today, 4/18/10, we found the field he had described and had great views of the Vesper Sparrow singing on fence posts and on the ground.  At one point, we also had great views of a Savannah Sparrow perched directly behind the Vesper Sparrow.  The field is on the south side of West Offutt Road about midway between where Offutt meets Mount Nebo and where it meets Edwards Ferry Road (about 0.4 miles north and west from the Nebo intersection). There is a low, chain-link fence, with round pipe fence posts about 30 feet off the road (left side as you head north and west on Offutt), and the Vesper was perching on the fence posts and active on the ground in front of the fence.

Jim Nelson
Montgomery Bird Club
Bethesda, MD