Or even one longspur, actually.
On Tuesday morning I was scanning the ducks at Sandy River Reservoir when Evan Spears showed up. He told me that his group had found a Lapland Longspur on a farm in western Prince Edward County during the Darlington Heights Christmas Bird Count last Sunday. This is a first record for the county, so obviously it would be a great addition to my year list. After receiving permission to visit the farm, I stopped by that afternoon on my way home from school. I found Horned Larks, with which the longspur would probably be associating, as well as American Pipits, but no longspur.
To make a long story short, I've been back the past two days, looking for the longspur, and have found larks on each visit, but no longspur.
Other interesting birds included an adult White-crowned Sparrow singing a partial song this morning as well as several Savannah Sparrows. As long as the flock of larks stays around there's hope of seeing the longspur as well, but the next two days are supposed to be rainy, so I doubt I'll get to look for it much over the coming weekend.
The good news is that I did see some new birds for the year on the farm, and the 2014 county list is now at 73 species. Number 70 was Common Raven, a pair seen over US 15 south of Farmville (a common occurrence these days); number 73 was Brown-headed Cowbird, which is common on the farm (I saw over 350 there today). Also, while at Sandy River Reservoir on Tuesday morning, Evan and I saw a group of about 45 Redhead, a high count for the county as far as I know. When I visited briefly this afternoon, they were all gone.
I'm also starting to play the "what's next?" game, as in "which new species will I see next?" Some that I still need for the year are Hairy Woodpecker, Sharp-shinned Hawk, and Fox Sparrow, as well as several ducks and any owls. But I'd really like a longspur.
On Tuesday morning I was scanning the ducks at Sandy River Reservoir when Evan Spears showed up. He told me that his group had found a Lapland Longspur on a farm in western Prince Edward County during the Darlington Heights Christmas Bird Count last Sunday. This is a first record for the county, so obviously it would be a great addition to my year list. After receiving permission to visit the farm, I stopped by that afternoon on my way home from school. I found Horned Larks, with which the longspur would probably be associating, as well as American Pipits, but no longspur.
To make a long story short, I've been back the past two days, looking for the longspur, and have found larks on each visit, but no longspur.
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| Horned Lark in the driveway. 9 Jan 2014. Cell phone digiscope. |
Other interesting birds included an adult White-crowned Sparrow singing a partial song this morning as well as several Savannah Sparrows. As long as the flock of larks stays around there's hope of seeing the longspur as well, but the next two days are supposed to be rainy, so I doubt I'll get to look for it much over the coming weekend.
The good news is that I did see some new birds for the year on the farm, and the 2014 county list is now at 73 species. Number 70 was Common Raven, a pair seen over US 15 south of Farmville (a common occurrence these days); number 73 was Brown-headed Cowbird, which is common on the farm (I saw over 350 there today). Also, while at Sandy River Reservoir on Tuesday morning, Evan and I saw a group of about 45 Redhead, a high count for the county as far as I know. When I visited briefly this afternoon, they were all gone.
I'm also starting to play the "what's next?" game, as in "which new species will I see next?" Some that I still need for the year are Hairy Woodpecker, Sharp-shinned Hawk, and Fox Sparrow, as well as several ducks and any owls. But I'd really like a longspur.
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