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Subject:

AIMOPHILA SP. probable CASSIN'S SPARROW, Point Lookout State Park

From:

Mikey Lutmerding

Reply-To:

Mikey Lutmerding

Date:

Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:58:54 -0400

Hi all,

I spent the morning at Point Lookout State Park, the definite highlight was
flushing an unknown sparrow from near the point.  I originally flushed the
bird from the Bay side (as opposed to the river side) of the island of trees
before the lighthouse.  I slowly worked around towards it and flushed it
into the grassy center of the loop road where it ran around under the
boulders occasionally perching on them. I initially felt that it was a
sparrow that I had not seen before, but unfortunately, talked myself into a
strange plumage of a young Vesper that I was not familiar with.  Some things
bothered me about this, and I uploaded photos and solicited opinions.  Matt
Hafner and I talked about the bird and about what my initial feeling for the
birds ID was.   He and Marshall Iliff agreed that an Aimophilla sp. is
involved.   I managed to take many shots from a distance (which I have
posted below) and feel that there are at least 2 shots that strongly argue
for CASSIN'S SPARROW as opposed to Bachman's or Botteri's.  The outer tail
as viewed from underneath had a distinctive white border (see photo 5-
Bachman's and Botteri's have an indistinct border) and the central tail
feathers were barred (hard to see but evident in shot 10, I believe
Bachman's and Botteri's tail is plain) which is something that jumped out at
me in the field.  Unfortunately the whole incident lasted a few minutes and
the bird disappeared into the fenced off area around the lighthouse.  I
spent the next hour and a half walking the grassy area hoping it would
return with no luck. I truly hope the bird sticks around!

Photos of the bird can be seen at-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeycerw/

Comments welcomed

Point lookout was also hopping with the more expected migrants, the winds
were out of the NE and with the front coming in from the west , the birds
seemed to be concentrated at the point, many warblers were seen coming in
off the bay well after sunrise.


Location:     Point Lookout State Park
Observation date:     9/26/10
Number of species:     72

Canada Goose     5
American Black Duck     2
Mallard     3
Brown Pelican     30
Double-crested Cormorant     25
Great Blue Heron     5
Black Vulture     3
Turkey Vulture     4
Osprey     3
Bald Eagle     4
Merlin     1
Laughing Gull     130
Ring-billed Gull     25
Herring Gull     15
Great Black-backed Gull     10
Common Tern     30
Forster's Tern     75
Royal Tern     4
Rock Pigeon     2
Mourning Dove     3
Eastern Screech-Owl     1
Chimney Swift     1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird     1
Belted Kingfisher     1
Red-bellied Woodpecker     2
Downy Woodpecker     2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)     11
Pileated Woodpecker     1
Eastern Wood-Pewee     1
Eastern Phoebe     4
Great Crested Flycatcher     1
White-eyed Vireo     3
Red-eyed Vireo     4
Blue Jay     13
American Crow     2
Fish Crow     1
crow sp.     7
Carolina Chickadee     7
Tufted Titmouse     5
Brown-headed Nuthatch     5
Carolina Wren     3
House Wren     6
Marsh Wren     2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     2
Eastern Bluebird     5
Swainson's Thrush     2
Gray Catbird     6
Northern Mockingbird     4
Brown Thrasher     3
European Starling     30
Northern Parula     3
Yellow Warbler     3
Magnolia Warbler     2
Black-throated Blue Warbler     2
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)     5
Pine Warbler     6
Palm Warbler     15
Palm Warbler (Western)     20
Palm Warbler (Yellow)     3
Bay-breasted Warbler     1
Blackpoll Warbler     1
Black-and-white Warbler     5
American Redstart     4
Ovenbird     1
Northern Waterthrush     2
Common Yellowthroat     5
Eastern Towhee     1
Chipping Sparrow     1
CASSIN'S SPARROW    1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak     2
Indigo Bunting     3
Red-winged Blackbird     5
House Finch     2
American Goldfinch     1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Good Birding!
Mikey Lutmerding
Croom, MD
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeycerw/