[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TAS BirdBoard ] [ FAQ ]
Posted by Roxanne Featherly on 20:22:32 02/14/11
very possibly at C-357 sparrow fields. Now that I have eveyone's attention, yesterday, Sunday, February 13, Jeanette, Troy and I embarked on a Century Run. We started out at 6:15AM and ended at 6:50PM making key stops in Miami-Dade and Collier County. In a nutshell we totalled 103 species (unofficially; I still need to double check the numbers, but we definitely went over 100!) I will post the highlights at another time, but for now after a discussion with Jeanette and Troy, I wanted to detail what we saw at the C-357 sparrow fields yesterday. We arrived there around 9AM. We started walking along the berm and followed the path that runs past the little pond. On my left I saw a little brown bird fly out of the brush and fly across the path and into one of the series of bare trees on the right of the path. When I focused on the bird perched in the bare tree, the first thing that struck me and all the others once they got on the bird, was the overall uniform rich chestnut brown color. There were no wing bars, and no streaking on the breast and flan ks. It was a bird none of us were accustomed to seeing. My next impression was that it was some sort ot bunting, finch-like bird. After everyone got good looks including Joy and her husband (please chime in with your comments as you see fit,) I asked Jeanette to pull out her field guide and open it up to the Indigo Bunting page. Well, the first thing that caught our eye on that page was the illustration of the female Blue Bunting. In fact if you turn to page 441 of National Geographic's Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Fifth Edition, the bird in the lower left corner is what Jeanette, Troy and I saw. So that said, since many folks have been visiting the sparrow fields for Dickcissel, Orchard Oriole, and Clay-colored Sparrows, keep your eyes pealed for this bird and bring your camera. Thanks.
[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TAS BirdBoard ] [ FAQ ]