Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Plum Bird in Brooklyn

After birding Plum Beach for Nelson's and Sharptailed Saltmarsh Sparrows on Sunday, I saw a post on Wednesday morning that an even "better" bird had shown up there...LeConte's Sparrow.  This is one of the rare sparrows that we occasionally see in NY.  Last year, I was with a group of birders at Tilden when Shane Blodgett got us on to an immature LeContes.  This year, the bird was found by Doug Gochfeld (yet another rarity he found this year, after Red Necked Stint and Wagtail), an it was an adult.  Jess and I drove to the beach and saw the now familiar site of a group of birders searching for a rarity.  We fanned out and meandered over the dunes and marsh hoping to re-spot the sparrow.  This went on for about forty-five minutes, during which time several more birders and photographers arrived.  Suddenly the call went out..."over here!" and we were  on the bird.  It showed briefly and went back into the brush before I could get a look, and we all went back into slow-search mode, but with considerably more adrenaline in our systems.  The bird finally popped back up and gave everyone good views before landing on the ground and scurrying under some brush.  Again with the walking behavior, which I'm coming to believe is the best way for a bird to hide itself.

1 comment:

Worldsvet said...

Dear Mr. Whittle,
My name is Richard. My wife and I had the pleasure of meeting you in July of 08 at my farm in Trumansburg; you were there to photograph the cattle egret in our pasture.
Did you make the record for a NYS big year? Also, I have a few pictures of you taking pictures of the egret. would you like me to send them to you?