[birding] no Henslow's Sparrow

[rich armstrong]

1.nanette & i could not make it out to e e wilson until 3, but we walked 
doug's field up & back, round & round, over & through for 100 minutes, on 
all sides of his red& white tape. we tromped through every patch of 
reasonable grass as best we could.
2. we flushed 3 snipe, 3 mourning doves, 2 garter snakes, and 1 sparrow.
3. the sparrow was on south side of the area (near where there is a tree 
with 4 trunks) and it was near the edge and darted into the brambles and we 
never saw it again. we did cover that area a few more times on all sides.
4. all i can tell you is it was a small sparrow, not a golden-crowned or fox 
or song. it could have been savanah's or lincoln's or the rare one - no 
clue.
5. anyway, it is a nice walk and there are red-tails, cooper's, & 
sharp-shinned hawks as well as all the big sparrows & towhees in the 
brambles.
6. we hope someone has better luck than we did - i don't think we can go 
tomorrow.
Rich Armstrong
541-753-1978
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Douglas Robinson" <douglas.robinson at oregonstate.edu>
To: <obol at oregonbirdwatch.org>; "Midvalley Birding" 
<list at midvalleybirding.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 11:55 AM
Subject: [birding] Henslow's Sparrow at EE Wilson, Benton County, 15 Jan


>I found a Henslow's Sparrow this morning in the field now famous for its
> Sedge Wren at EE Wilson, north of Corvallis, Benton County.  The bird was 
> in
> a small patch of broad-leaved grasses in the center of the field.
>
> To find the location, cut and paste the link below, which should be 
> centered
> on the location. Park at one of the public parking areas along Camp Adair
> Road and walk north to a shed about 1.5 miles from Camp Adair Road. About
> 225-250 yards east of the shed, I tied a red and white flagging tape to a
> thistle. The bird was first flushed from a grassy patch 40-50 yards south 
> of
> the flag. It flew north into a small briar patch just east of the flagging
> tape.
>
> http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Camp+Adair+Road,
> +oregon&ie=UTF8&ll=44.715697,-123.210297&spn=0.03507,0.062313&z=14
>
> The bird was very secretive. It flushed under foot and flew about 4 feet 
> to
> a patch of grass, then sat partly in view as close as 8 feet from me. I
> really only got clear looks at the back, nape, and upper edges of wings 
> when
> it was perched there. As I maneuvered to get looks at the rest of the 
> bird,
> it flew to the briar patch. It had the typical jerky flight pattern of
> Henslow's Sparrow.
>
> The habitat is reasonable for this bird, but not great. The grass cover is
> not high like it often is in other places (Southeast USA) where these 
> birds
> winter. The best patches, like the one the bird was in, are small and 
> spread
> out in this field.
>
> To read more about the winter habitat in the Southeast, check this paper
> out:
>
> http://www.auburn.edu/~grandjb/wildpop/readings/Occupancy/Tucker_et_al_2003.
> pdf
>
>
> W. Douglas Robinson
>
>
> -- 
>
>
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