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Posted by Alex Harper on 12:53:27 02/03/07
I left my house at 4:50 this morning and was able to get to Eco Pond by 6:59. I wanted to arrive sooner, but there was a thick fog the entire ride through the park.
There were plenty of birds at Eco Pond, though I was there for one bird: Nelson the Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow. I saw a sharp-tailed the first time around at the location it has been reported at. However, without a good look at the breast, I didn't want to assume it was Nelson. I settled with three adult Bald Eagles and my year Black-necked Stilts, along with a bunch of waders and shorebirds. It looks as though all the ducks have found a new spot.
I arrived at the Coastal Prairie Trail a little later than I had hoped. I mixed flock near the C Loop was made up of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, White-eyed and Blue-headed Vireos, a couple warblers including Yellow-throated, and two Baltimore Orioles.
I found the Bay Loop section of the Coastal Prairie, and sparrows were immediatly evident. As somebody mentioned, if you like Savannah Sparrows, this is the place for you. Also along the trail before the turn west near the shoreline were the following: a Yellow-breasted Chat, Indigo Buntings, two Swamp Sparrows, Grasshopped Sparrows, and American Goldfinches. To see the other good birds reported (such as Dickcissal, Clay-colored Sparrow, and White-crowned Sparrow), you have to walk west and then walk around the brush and "prairie". I did not see my life Dickcissal, but I did see the adult White-crowned Sparrow. A state bird for me. There were also two Clay-colored Sparrows.
I then headed back to Eco Pond, and quickly managed to find two Sharp-tailed Sparrows hanging out with eachother. One was a Nelson's, but I never got looks at the other's breast. Another treat near the Sharp-tailed Sparrows was a calling Sedge Wren that sat up in the open calling. This was not a life bird, but I had only ever heard them, also at Eco Pond in 2004. Nelson was a life bird, but I enjoyed the Sedge Wren just as much, if not more.
I had to be home by 12:00, and managed to pull into the driveway at 11:58. And now I'm going to sleep.
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