So, the highlights of this historic day in Prospect Park are:
VESPER SPARROW,NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED SPARROW, CLAY-COLORED SPARROW, SHARP-TAILED SPARROW(SALTMARSH), MARSH WREN, GREATER SCAUP, 13 species sparrows condensed under 4 acres territory combining the ball fields snow fence enclosure/wildflower meadow, & "Sparrowbowl";
Rob Jett's posting to NYSBIRDS listserve:
Today Prospect Park held, what can only
be described as, an outrageous assortment
of sparrows. It wasn't just the unusual
diversity, but also the relatively small area
in which they were located. As mentioned in
previous posts regarding a recent Lark
Sparrow, a section of the Long Meadow
near the baseball fields has
been fenced off for reseeding. It is roughly
a rectangular area 100 yards by 80 yards.
Adjacent to that is a very small wildflower
meadow. Large numbers of mostly Chipping,
Savannah and Song Sparrow have been feeding
in the fenced area. When flushed they'd mostly
move to the wildflower meadow or a pair of large
Linden Trees at the edge of the field. At the
wildflower meadow there have also been many
Swamp, White-throated and one or two White-crowned
Sparrows. About 200-300 yards to the north
on the Long Meadow is a small area that the regulars
call the "Sparrow Bowl". So, keep in mind that very
restricted area of Prospect Park where a group of us
spent a few hours today...
Peter Dorosh texted me at around 10am that there
was a Vesper Sparrow near the baseball field.
I rode over on my bike and got there fast. It
didn't take long to find the bird, which ultimately
flew to the opposite side of the field (of course).
I found it again, but put down my bins so I could
pull up my hood as it began to rain. Naturally, the
bird vanished. As Peter, Mary Eyster and I scanned
the grass field I stumbled on a Nelson's Sparrow
(a. n. subvirgatus)! Peter called Steve Nanz to see
if he could come over and take a photo. Steve got
there quickly and stopped briefly at the wildflower
meadow across the sidewalk from us. He promptly
spotted a Clay-colored Sparrow. There was a birding
group from the Audubon Nature Center passing by,
so a lot of folks got to see it. The rain then started
coming down so I left to get some lunch. As I was eating
lunch Mary called saying that she and Peter found a
Saltmarsh Sparrow at the Sparrow Bowl. I hopped
back on my bike, got to the Sparrow Bowl where
Peter and Mary point out the sparrow casually
eating smartweed at the edge of the grass.
Very weird. In all, we tallied 13 species of sparrow
in Prospect Park. In keeping with the marsh theme
(I suppose), there was also a Marsh Wren at the edge
of Prospect Lake which I tracked down just prior to a
deluge which sent me home for good.
Good birding,
Rob
FYI - As of the late afternoon the Vesper Sparrow
was still present on the field and the Clay-colored
was seen briefly at the wildflower meadow. The
Nelson's and Saltmarsh were not relocated.
**********
Location: Prospect Park
Observation date: 10/24/09
Number of species: 51
Brant 6
Canada Goose X
Mute Swan X
Wood Duck X
American Black Duck X
Mallard X
Northern Shoveler X
Ruddy Duck X
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Coot 3
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Herring Gull X
Rock Pigeon X
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker X
Northern Flicker X
Eastern Phoebe X
American Crow X
Tufted Titmouse X
Marsh Wren 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet X
Ruby-crowned Kinglet X
Hermit Thrush X
American Robin X
Gray Catbird X
European Starling X
Yellow-rumped Warbler X
Palm Warbler X
Palm Warbler (Western) 1
Common Yellowthroat X
Eastern Towhee 1
Chipping Sparrow X
Clay-colored Sparrow 1
Field Sparrow 1
Vesper Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 12
Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow 1
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow X
Swamp Sparrow X
White-throated Sparrow X
White-crowned Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco X
Northern Cardinal X
Indigo Bunting 1
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
American Goldfinch X
House Sparrow X
Keir randall reported MARSH WREN south side of the lake, between duck and three sister islands and drake GREATER SCAUP on the Lake near the West Island shelter.
**********************
This was a day birders dream about, to see the most of quality, with the least mileage to walk. I understand walking is great exercise, but heck ,once in awhile, its great to see terrific--I mean rare stuff--in a smallest possible region; in today's case, less than 5 acres !
It will be a day I will always remember, a day I almost didn't go to Prospect due to an achy tired body from so much intense planting this week but Mary Eyster hastily suggested birdng Prospect this morning and I thought,its bad weather, good stuff are waiting to be found; let me make Marty proud ("Bad weather brings in the best birds"). Boy, I didn't think it was going to be that ridiculous type of day,where when one rarity was found, other folks come in and they found rarities too! Its the beauty of serendipity , team effort,and technology, culminating in the joy of finding things by happenstance,with skill and most importantly in this era --cell phone text messaging technology. On the latter, I found out that I sent out at least 25 text messages ! No wonder why my cell battery died so quickly.
Getting to the point about today's spectacular day: the hottest piece of turf now in Brooklyn is the Prospect north ballfields. Postseason playoff baseball and Yankee tickets may be hot tickets around town, but Prospect's north ballfields snow fence enclosure is even hotter to step in. Today , 13 species sparrows were recorded either in that ballfield pot of gold spot, or the adjoining wildlfower meadow, or 250 yards north at the "Sparrowbowl". And all this after seeing the Lark Sparrow graced that hot zone just days ago (5 rare sparrows in less than a week? Come on! ).Well, "Larky" sure got the "ball" rolling !
It was an incredible stretch of fortune in which me, Mary and Rob Jett experienced, us three lucky recipients of the four rare sparrows, with others bought on by my text message blasts, seeing or finding at least some of the other rare sparrows.To put it succinctly: I texted everyone the VESPER SPARROW, Rob comes , refinds the Vesper, but finds also the grass hugging NELSONS SHARP-TAILED SPARROW along with Mary who spotted it as well before; Steve Nanz comes too, finds the CLAY-COLORED SPARROW in the Wildflower Meadow which multiple observers enjoyed; after everyone departed, Mary spotted another orangy face bird in the Sparrowbowl, which she suggested in checking out before a lunch break; I thought little of it until I saw her "orangy"- faced bird moments later, a SALTMARSH SHARP-TAILED SPARROW right out in the open !.. We called Rob back from his home. He , along with us two, watched the day's 2nd ammodramus sparrow feeding on low pink smartweed. A funny moment occurred with this last sighting. While Mary was calling Rob about the Saltmarsh ST Sparrow with my phone, the phone kept ringing during the conversation and I looked at the text , interrupting the phone conversation. It was a text message from a friend that morning who saw some of the rare sparrows as well -- perfectly timed-- saying, "What? No more rarities"?
We just had to laugh...it was that kind of day, which we all will remember always as "The Day of the Sparrow" .
Always Good Boiding ! (especially in Prospect Park ;)> )
---Peter
Observers, Peter Dorosh, Mary Eyster, Rob Jett, Rob and Tracy Bate, Janet Schumacher, Multiple observers
List
Location: Prospect Park
Observation date: 10/24/09
Notes: Nelson sharp-tailed sparrow subspecies subgivatus
Number of species: 45
Brant 6 flyover ballfields
Canada Goose 125 lake
Mute Swan 4 lake
Mallard X lake
Northern Shoveler X lake
Greater Scaup 1 drake , first seen by Keir Randall, southwest Lake
Ruddy Duck 30 lake
Pied-billed Grebe 2 lake
Great Blue Heron 1 flyover ballfields
Red-tailed Hawk 1 flyover ballfields
American Kestrel 1 flyover PPW Ave
American Coot 3 lake
Spotted Sandpiper 1 lake west shore
Ring-billed Gull 3 lake
Herring Gull 6 flyover ballfields
Rock Pigeon X
Mourning Dove X
Monk Parakeet 3 f/o Sparrowbowl, Mary Eyster
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1 south ballfields
Northern Flicker 1 Tennis house
Eastern Phoebe 8 ballfields snow fence enclosure
American Crow 4 f/o ballfields
Brown Creeper 1 south ballfields woods
Golden-crowned Kinglet 20 ballfields perimeter
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 10 ballfields perimeter
Hermit Thrush 3
European Starling X
Eastern Towhee 1 sparrowbowl, male
Chipping Sparrow 40 ballfields snow fence enclosure
Clay-colored Sparrow 1 Wildflower meadow, spotted by Steve Nanz ; M.Obs
Field Sparrow 2 ballfields snow fence enclosure;sparrowbowl
Vesper Sparrow 1 ballfields snow fence enclosure; M.obs
Savannah Sparrow 25 various, mostly ballfields
Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow 1 ballfields snow fence enclosure;P.Dorosh, M ,Eyster,R. Jett,Rob and Tracy Bate
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow 1 Sparrowbowl at fence apex , behind and in front of bent down wire fence; also in dead burdock patch;obs P.Dorosh, M ,Eyster,R. Jett
Song Sparrow 8
Swamp Sparrow 2 Wildflower Meadow
White-throated Sparrow X
White-crowned Sparrow 2 Wildflower Meadow
Dark-eyed Junco 7 sparrowbowl
Northern Cardinal 1
Indigo Bunting 1 Wildflower Meadow; spotted by Steve Nanz; M.Obs
Brown-headed Cowbird 2 ballfields
American Goldfinch 4 ballfields
House Sparrow X
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/)
Todays rare species closest to image searched online
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow
https://www.abcbirds.org/images/saltmarsh_sparrow_jett.jpg
Nelson Sharp-tailed (Subgivatus)
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=nelsoni+subvirgatus&FORM=BIFD#focal=22bb5d5eb47c5c710a6a537e6bcd3be7&furl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philjeffrey.net%2FNelsonShrpTailedSparrow2s.jpg
http://www.jeaniron.ca/Trips/JamesBay2009/nelsonsban5658.jpg
Clay-colored Sparrow
http://sdakotabirds.com/species_photos/photos/clay_colored_sparrow_1.jpg
Vesper Sparrow
http://www.sdakotabirds.com/species_photos/photos/vesper_sparrow_4.jpg^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
