Ammodramus - Exton Park

Oh yeah, I just dropped some Latin on you! Boom goes the dynamite...at least I think it's Latin. Yeah, I have an ego. I hide it better on some days but it's there. I hate it when I don't know as much about a topic or subject. I don't want to be the student, I want to be the teacher. I want to be put on a pedestal, receive trophies and told over and over again how wonderful I am. Then I start my day and that's over...

Birding is humbling for me too. Almost all my birding friends are better birders than I am. While that's good in most ways it's also a frustrating, humbling place to be. I have to defer to them because they are usually right. I'll catch myself saying something stupid like "Hey what is thatt?" When I should probably know. So, sometimes my joy is tempered by the fact that I'm not the alpha dog.Oh, my bird buds are very cool about it. Indulging me in my barrage of questions and tolerating my insecurity. It's all good really.  Besides, I'm better now than I was a year ago and I keep getting better. Blah, blah, blah, this is an self indulgent post but, then again, blogging is self indulgent. 

Back to my Latin lesson. 

"I swear it was a Le Conte's sparrow! It had to me. I've seen Nelsons' and...arent' they done migrating yet. And...what other sparrow is orange like that and...it's just like the book photo!". 

This is what I say to my friend Brian Raicich.  He saw the bird too but I got a better look. He's agreeing with me but I can tell he's not as excited as I am. I think his excitement is tempered because we can't really be sure especially when the Le Conte's Sparrow is really rare in PA. Only 11 documented sightings ever I think. This is a really secretive bird so getting another look, or a photo is tough. Not a whole lot is known about the bird since it's hard to see. Only a few hundred have been banded and none of those have been recovered. 

After some time and discussions with the Chester County eBirding compiler, Holly Merker, we decide to post it as "An Ammodramus sparrow". An Ammodramus sparrow is a nice way to say "we don't really know". There is a small win in our uncertainty. Some people would post it confidently as a Le Conte's even if they weren't 100% sure. Most birders know that the "game" as well as some real research can be compromised if we aren't completely accurate about what we see. So we can take pride in our ethics and honor. 

As you can see below the two likely candidates are really similar. 

Le Conte's Sparrow

Nelson's Sparrow

The full description of Brian's post on our behalf to eBird is below. 



An Ammodramus sparrow with bold white crown stripe, very fine streaking along the side of the breast, and overall yellowish orange tone in the face and top of the chest, buff sides and white belly. Located on south side of Exton Park, along "Sparrow Alley", south of main pond and east of beaver ponds, on the south side of the hederows that meet the meadow north of the Chester Valley Trail. The bird was observed skulking low in grasses and weeds when it briefly perched on the sediment fencing. It gave a second view perched in weeds. The brief observations gave field marks consistent with Le Conte's Sparrow however it dropped out of view before photos could be taken. It was not relocated after considerable time was spent in the area.


And yet...in all this somewhat frustrating study and observation I am exhilarated  Brian and I go back again the next morning and are joined by our friend Arthur. We don't find it so we may never know but the chase is half the fun. 

Hey, if this was easy it wouldn't be fun.