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ATFL report; Vesper in Saxapahaw



Hi Carolinabirders,

Filed an on-line report yesterday of the Ash-throated Flycatcher. If any 
NC BRC members are out there, let me know if it didn't arrive, so I can 
prepare a paper version... I'll scan and e-mail the photos as soon as I 
finish that roll of film and get it developed.

My wife had to go to Saxapahaw this morning for (don't laugh) an 
acupuncture treatment. I tagged along so we could have lunch with an old 
friend of hers afterwards. I figured while she was in acupuncture, I 
could go scout for Sunday's Chapel Hill CBC.

Side note: speaking of that CBC, is Les Todd out there anyplace? 
Apparently I'm covering some of your former turf, I'm seeking pointers... 
Send me an e-mail if you see this before Sunday.

Back to the story: I never got around to scouting. The acupuncturist's 
house had a huge hay field behind it. She had a Brown Thrasher and 
several White-throated Sparrows picking around her compost heap. I walked 
out into the field, and was rewarded with numerous Eastern Meadowlarks, 
one of whom sang; and one flock of a dozen or so American Pipits, plus 3 
singles that flew overhead later. I also spotted three hawks: a Red-tail, 
a Red-shoulder, and an unidentified accipiter that I think was a Cooper's 
(it looked big).

I walked back toward the house along a creek with a narrow buffer of 
shrubs and trees. In this buffer I flushed up a few birds, including 
one that I'm fairly sure was a Vesper Sparrow. It didn't have the usual 
conspicuous white eye-ring, and I couldn't make out the rufous shoulder 
patches, but it did flash what looked like white outer tail feathers as 
it twitched nervously on a low tree branch.

Good birding,

Josh


Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/