Luke Tiller was on top of things when he posted a link to an interesting White-crowned Sparrow taken by Walt Duncan on one of Luke's bird walks. The bird is clearly one of the western races based on the clear gray (rather than black) lores (the area between the eye and the bill). The eastern race, Zonotrichia leucophrys leucophrys, has dark lores. Any of the western races would be true rarities in CT. This appears to be the Gambel's race, Z.l. gambelii, based on the orangey-pink (rather than yellowish) bill. This is the race that occurs farthest northwest, including Alaska, and is the most likely one to occur in the East based on its longer migration route than races that occur farther south along the West coast, such as Z.l. nuttalli. Intergrading between races may make absolute assignment to race difficult. There are a couple of other traits, such as primary projection and amount of brown vs gray in some feather tracts, that may be hard to assess on the photo. But it does tend toward grayness, which is good for gambelii. Hopefull Mark Szantyr, who's probably spent more time than anyone working on races of sparrows in CT, will chime in. I'm not sure if any race other than gameblii has been confirmed in the East. Gambel's White Crowned Sparrows show up occasionally in the East and are probably somewhat overlooked because they are a subspecies rather than a "countable" species. (Editorial aside - Few things impede people from becoming really top-notch birders more than a list-driven mentality that causes them to think, "If I can't count it, I'm not interested." Thanks, Luke, for the interest). How rare are they? Zeranski & Baptist list one CT record (although I don't know if they intended to be exhaustive). The Birds of Masschusetts, a fairly recent book, lists 12 records since 1955. That's 2+ per decade. So this is a really nice picture of a very good bird. Greg Hanisek Waterbury

Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow is a regular but rare vagrant to the east and its ID is not easy even in good conditions. Many birds reported as such may not be, especially in non-adult plumages. Young birds of all the races, including eastern birds, can show a pale loral area, or at least not show a dark lore like most of the eastern birds of all ages show. Typically, the lore is messy looking wthout the distinct dark feathering as in eastern birds nor without the clean pale area of western birds. In certain conditions, this lore can look pale. I saw a bird in Storrs many years ago that appeared to be pale-lored and may have been Gambel's based on other features including bill color and size but again, young birds can be quite variable. The image taken by Walt Duncan shows an adult Gambel's- type White-crowned Sparrow. The clean pale lore and the bill color and size all suggest this west-coast form. I am not certain as it has been many years since I checked collections but this may be the first documentation of this subspecies in Connecticut. Well done, guys...this is a truly rare bird. A note about birds up here in the north east corner....I continue to have a flock of 25-30 Purple Finches attending my feeder. Today they were joined by a single Pine Siskin. In the oaks over my yard I had several Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers and two or three Blackpoll Warblers this evening as well as a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Just before I wrote this note, a Saw-whet Owl was calling weakly in the woods behing my house. Mark Mark S.Szantyr 80 Bicknell Road Apt. 9 Ashford, CT 06278 USA Birddog55@Charter.net 860-487-9766 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Greg Hanisek" <ghanisek@rep-am.com> To: <ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org> Cc: "Mark Szantyr" <birddog55@Charter.net> Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 8:29 PM Subject: [CT Birds] Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow > Luke Tiller was on top of things when he posted a link to an interesting > White-crowned Sparrow taken by Walt Duncan on one of Luke's bird walks. > The bird is clearly one of the western races based on the clear gray > (rather than black) lores (the area between the eye and the bill). The > eastern race, Zonotrichia leucophrys leucophrys, has dark lores. > > Any of the western races would be true rarities in CT. This appears to be > the Gambel's race, Z.l. gambelii, based on the orangey-pink (rather than > yellowish) bill. This is the race that occurs farthest northwest, > including Alaska, and is the most likely one to occur in the East based on > its longer migration route than races that occur farther south along the > West coast, such as Z.l. nuttalli. Intergrading between races may make > absolute assignment to race difficult. There are a couple of other traits, > such as primary projection and amount of brown vs gray in some feather > tracts, that may be hard to assess on the photo. But it does tend toward > grayness, which is good for gambelii. > > Hopefull Mark Szantyr, who's probably spent more time than anyone working > on races of sparrows in CT, will chime in. I'm not sure if any race other > than gameblii has been confirmed in the East. > > Gambel's White Crowned Sparrows show up occasionally in the East and are > probably somewhat overlooked because they are a subspecies rather than a > "countable" species. (Editorial aside - Few things impede people from > becoming really top-notch birders more than a list-driven mentality that > causes them to think, "If I can't count it, I'm not interested." Thanks, > Luke, for the interest). > > How rare are they? Zeranski & Baptist list one CT record (although I don't > know if they intended to be exhaustive). The Birds of Masschusetts, a > fairly recent book, lists 12 records since 1955. That's 2+ per decade. > > So this is a really nice picture of a very good bird. > > Greg Hanisek > Waterbury > > > > _______________________________________________ > This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA) > for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut. > For subscription information visit > http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org >

I became aware today, as I watched my feeders, that this fall is the first time since I have been feeding birds that Purple Finches have outnumbered House Finches in my yard ( or any yard I have lived in). Another realization I made was that since this flock af about 30 Purple Finches arrived, the usual flock of about 40 American Goldfinches has been absent. Anyone else experience an exodus of goldfinches in the past month? Mark Mark S.Szantyr 80 Bicknell Road Apt. 9 Ashford, CT 06278 USA Birddog55@Charter.net 860-487-9766

Regarding Mark's goldfinch note, it appears at the moment that the Am Goldfinch flight is rather light when compared to the Purple Finch flight. This past Monday at Lighthouse Point hawk watch we logged 600+ Purple Finches and just a small number of goldfinches. We get major goldfinch flights (1,000+/day) there, so it appears at the moment goldfinches aren't making a big push. However, we sometimes get the biggest movements there in early Nov. Of course goldfinches are so common that there still are plenty around. When I birded Crookhorn Road a couple days ago a big flock was feeding in the weeds. Regarding Julian's idea of hitting places such as Lightouse after hawk season, that's a good idea. I don't have notes in front of me, but I went down once or twice on big Dec cold fronts in the past and had significant Common Redpoll and Pine Siskin movements. Greg Hanisek Waterbury ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Szantyr" <birddog55@Charter.net> To: <ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org> Sent: Friday, October 19, 2007 2:28 PM Subject: [CT Birds] Something new at my feeders >I became aware today, as I watched my feeders, that this fall is the first > time since I have been feeding birds that Purple Finches have outnumbered > House Finches in my yard ( or any yard I have lived in). Another > realization I made was that since this flock af about 30 Purple Finches > arrived, the usual flock of about 40 American Goldfinches has been absent. > Anyone else experience an exodus of goldfinches in the past month? > > Mark > Mark S.Szantyr > 80 Bicknell Road > Apt. 9 > Ashford, CT 06278 > USA > > Birddog55@Charter.net > 860-487-9766 > > > > _______________________________________________ > This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA) > for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut. > For subscription information visit > http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org > >