Today I crossed 350 species for the year. Folks who do ABA area big years consider getting over 700 species to be a good year. To do that one needs to go Texas, Florida, Alaska, California, and other places, and do some pelagic trips. I’m not doing that, I’m happy just birding South Dakota and Arizona and places in between. Anyway, I finally got the two sparrows that the Sparrow Patch is famous for.
The Sparrow Patch is an eBird hotspot, primarily because it is a good place to get Nelson’s Sparrow and LeConte’s Sparrow in the fall migration. They finally showed up! This is a Nelson’s Sparrow. The gray median crown stripe separates it from the LeConte’s Sparrow, which has a white to orange median crown stripe. There are other differences too, but in the field these are usually the easiest to see. And here is a LeConte’s Sparrow, this image is a large crop so not the best quality. Both of these sparrows are difficult to photograph, they don’t like to stay out in the open very long. LeConte’s Sparrow was #350 for the year. Later in the morning I went to Farm Island to check my sunflower seed stashes. I was hoping for a Fox Sparrow, but while watching for sparrows I got this Northern Parula! This may be one of the best photos I’ve taken of the species. Like all the other warblers, it was foraging in the Red-osier Dogwoods. Another Sedge Wren in the Sparrow Patch.
