Montauk Birding. Lark Sparrow!

Yesterday we went birding in Montauk. Our first stop was Deep Hollow Ranch. Here we saw multiple Common Grackle who looked like they'd had oil spilled all over their feathers because of how iridescent their coloring was. Also mingling with the Grackle were Cow Birds; the females being grayish brown while the males had a black body and brown head. But, the greatest bird we saw at the Ranch was definitely a Peregrine Falcon! This being my first birding trip with everyone it was really exciting to see a Lark Sparrow. It was definitely one of the most exciting birds we saw out at "The End." The Lark Sparrow has a cheek patch and dark spot in the middle of its breast, it also has a mustache stripe a.k.a malar stripe. This sparrow was an adult and through the scope we could see every detail of this adorable bird. It was tough to spot sometimes as it moved around the grass but luckily everyone was able to look at it multiple times before we moved on. This amazing sighting was at the County Park and also at here we saw a Red-Wing Blackbird and a young female juvenile Red-Wing Blackbird. Thanks to the wonderful Julia Lewis who noticed a Merlin Falcon flying directly over us and because of her we were all able to get a good look at it before it flew over the tree line. Right after that we saw a Belted Kingfisher. Identifiable by its "finger tip" wings and being all black we almost immediately identified a Turkey Vulture circling around overhead. Overall I would say it was a great first birding trip!