On the lighthouse steps and along the rock trench in front of the lighthouse. 
Nice photos by Patty Craig and Jim Stasz.  
 
Joe Hanfman 
Columbia, Md 
Joe Hanfman Columbia, MD 
 
-----Original Message----- 
From:         Jim Stasz <> 
Sender:       Maryland Birds & Birding <> 
Date:         Mon, 27 Sep 2010 08:42:27  
To: <> 
Reply-To:     Jim Stasz <> 
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] AIMOPHILA SP. probable CASSIN'S SPARROW, Point Lookout State Park 
 
8:35 Cassins near lighthouse

Mikey Lutmerding <> wrote:

>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/