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Posted by Rock Jetty on 15:28:11 10/29/04
I saw the sparrow on Monday in one of our sites in Shark River Slough, out in the middle of nowhere. A 1st winter bird, it perched on our airboat and fed ravenously, disregarding our presence. I told Joe Barros the story when I saw him at a TAS talk on Wednesday night, but I wasn't ready to post anything since I wasn't 100% sure; I've only seen adult WCS's in Arkansas. The bird was only a couple of feet away from me at times! I had enough time to take out Sibley's and study the bird for about 15 minutes. I initially thought about adult Field or nonbreeding Chipping (I've seen both in Arkansas) but the field marks kept taking me back to 1st winter White-crowned: Orange-pink bill, two prominent white wing bars, rufous-brown stripes on crown, lack of eye-ring, grayish-buffed unstreaked breast, and its large size. It was Lyn Atherton's posting in Birdbrains AND her photos that sealed the deal. She's seen at least three WCS's in the past three days over at Ft. DeSoto, all 1st winter birds. I was so happy her photos helped that I emailed her to say thanks. A Florida first, cool beans.
As far as the nuthatch goes...well, you can't win 'em all. As Paul Bithorn would say: Life is good...on the road to 400 for Florida.
Cheers,
RJ
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