I have more photos from Sunday than the ones I posted. I will check to see
if any show decent looks at the tail end of the bird.

Monroe Harden
 On Dec 5, 2011 8:56 AM, "Matt Hafner" <> wrote:

> Hey Mark,
>
> We discussed this on Saturday while many of us were watching the bird.  It
> is no optical illusion the bird does not have any tail feathers.  I think
> it is the same bird given the unusual (for a Le Conte's) habits of this
> bird.
>
> As for whether the bird lost the tail feathers through molt or trauma, I
> don't know.  I assumed it was trauma-related on Saturday, but the timing is
> reasonable for molt as Le Conte's are known to migrate in juvenal plumage.
>
> Hopefully someone with more knowledge and readily accessible resources can
> chime in.
>
> Matt Hafner
> Forest Hill, MD
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Johnson <>
> To: MDOSPREY <>
> Sent: Mon, Dec 5, 2011 8:02 am
> 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
> offman yesterday, I noticed that the bird didn't appear to have even a
> hint of
> etrices, unless there's some kind of optical illusion going on in those
> photos.
> he photos I took five days ago (11/29) show full length tail feathers
> sticking
> ut in the sunshine. I didn't get any shots with the tail open, so it's not
> lear how many retrices were in place at that time. If this is the same
> bird, he
> ither molted all his retrices at once since 11/29 or had them removed by
> rauma. The only other explanation I can think of is that this may be a
> ifferent bird (unlikely, I know). At any rate, the absence of a tail
> probably
> ncreases the likelihood that the bird photographed yesterday will be
> sticking
> round for a while. I would think he's less likely to take any long trips
> ithout a rudder. If anyone else has other photos from yesterday showing
> some
> ail feathers, I'd love to see them. If anyone with experience in the molt
> atterns of sparrows has comments, I'd love to hear them too.
> Mark J.
> berdeen
>
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