Mark, et. al.

The Annual cycle of breeding, molt, and migration for Le Conte's Sparrow can 
be found on Figure 4 of No. 224 of the Birds of North America by Peter 
Lowther.

George

www.georgejett.net
-----Original Message----- 
From: Mark Johnson
Sent: Monday, December 05, 2011 8:02 AM
To: 
Subject: [MDOSPREY] Swan Harbor Le Conte's Sparrow observations

Hi all,

After looking at the photos of this bird taken by Monroe Harding and Mark 
Hoffman yesterday, I noticed that the bird didn't appear to have even a hint 
of retrices, unless there's some kind of optical illusion going on in those 
photos. The photos I took five days ago (11/29) show full length tail 
feathers sticking out in the sunshine. I didn't get any shots with the tail 
open, so it's not clear how many retrices were in place at that time. If 
this is the same bird, he either molted all his retrices at once since 11/29 
or had them removed by trauma. The only other explanation I can think of is 
that this may be a different bird (unlikely, I know). At any rate, the 
absence of a tail probably increases the likelihood that the bird 
photographed yesterday will be sticking around for a while. I would think 
he's less likely to take any long trips without a rudder. If anyone else has 
other photos from yesterday showing some tail feathers, I'd love to see 
them. If anyone with experience in the molt patterns of sparrows has 
comments, I'd love to hear them too.

Mark J.
Aberdeen


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