Sunday, October 2, 2011

Birding at "THE END"

LARK SPARROW! we not only spotted the lark sparrow, but each student had the chance to study its field marks and observe its behavior. Perversely we got to see the lark sparrow, which is irregularly seen east of mississippi, before studying the the song sparrow, an abundant species on long island. Its head is most distinctive by its rusty cheek patch, black stripe on the side of the throat and small dark patch on the breast. It had an amazing camouflage against the tall grass. Their call note is a sharp tsip, often repeated as a rapid series (NGS).

American Robin--It was slightly embarrassing when we were ask to identify a juvenile robin and failed to do so. After seeing over 40 american robins with their solid red/brown bellies and grey wings it was quite misleading to see the juvenile with its underparts tinged with cinnamon and heavily spotted with brown.

Peregrine falcon--The first Peregrine was a juvenile spotted by sam and it had a striped underbelly. The second peregrine falcon only I saw, so its slightly unreliable, by i was able to identify it by its long tail, pointed wing and gliding flight by Third House.

Turkey Voltures--3 (Seen in flight, wings are held in a shallow V, seldom flapping their wings)
Belted Kingfisher--1 (in flight, noticeable by its rusty belly and flanks with a blue puffy crown)
European Starling--1 (mentioned in white room by cream)
Cowbirds--100 + (brown head, dark body)