New Egypt 2/24--White-crowned Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow, New Egypt

I returned to Jumping Brook Preserve this morning for the first time since my unfortunate episode in September when, while I was considering whether I could step over a breach in the path between two bogs, I lost my footing as the edge gave way and slipped waist deep into the water, losing my phone which somehow inexplicably managed to slide out of my pocket and sink into the muck. Apparently, iPhones don't float.

The last time I was there, what must have been an army of beavers had managed to create so many dams, that the bogs were overflowing and the paths, for a hundred yards at a stretch, were not just underwater, but flowing streams. I was happy to see today, that whoever the caretaker of the property is was taking care of the property, because the front bog had obviously been drained, drawing off all the water on the paths, and the other reservoirs were very low. Only one Killdeer in all that mud, but the robins, bluebirds, and blackbirds were all happily foraging. The evidence of the beaver brigade was everywhere--formidable trees gnawed down, pointed stumps every few feet, wood chips scattered all around. But I could walk instead of slosh. 

Unfortunately, even in the reservoirs that were full, there wasn't much waterfowl to find--14 black ducks were the largest number of ducks or geese that I could find. A few Ring-necked Ducks, a pair of Hooded Mergansers and only 4 geese were the best I could do. There were a couple of spots I didn't try since I'm still a bit leery of the more out of the way areas, but the big reservoir at the back, where I would expect to find a big flock of ring-necks, had only 2 geese floating on it. The best birds I had all morning there were on the way out--I heard, as I often do there, a Red-shouldered Hawk crying "Keer, keer, keer" and I found a Brown Creeper spiraling up a tree then down to the next one. Brown Creeper is a patch bird there for me. 

I'd been walking in a light, but steady rain almost the entire three hours I was at Jumping Brook. Of course, as soon as I got to my car, it had stopped. I had been considering going over to the longhorn cattle "pastures" not too far away, even though that spot, which once was the place for Sandhill Cranes in the county and was where Shari spotted Northern Lapwings (that year's celebrity species), hasn't been very interesting of late. I used to stop at a fence line on Brynmore Road and check out the sparrow flock, but nothing the last few times I've been there has turned up. I went anyway, and it was the same thing today, nothing there but a Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, and a House Sparrow. There was some entertainment when I was held up by the farmer's pet Swan Goose which would not let my car get by on Inman--I had to stop, get out of the car, and let the bird attack my ankles before it would move away--even then it walked along the side of my car screeching into the window as I drove carefully away, trying not to kill it. 

I scanned the fields for shorebirds but found only a flocks of robins and starlings. I parked and walked to the treeline that is beyond the pastures--there is a scraggly tree there that often has a flock of mixed sparrows in it. Today was one of those days--besides the predictable House Sparrows, I found another Song Sparrow, a couple of Savannah Sparrows, a couple of Chipping Sparrows, and then one sparrow that obviously wasn't a House Sparrow but, finally, the bird I always look for on Brynmore, a White-crowned Sparrow. Sans white-crown, which is why I didn't recognize it at first--the first winter birds have brown caps--but the conical shape of the big, shape of the head, the long tail, all gave me the field marks I need. So, the trip was worth it. Pickup truck guys: I saw an eagle, beautiful adult perched in a tree. 

I might even have seen two. There was a hawk very far away across the pasture that, with the overcast lighting and with its back to me, I couldn't make out very well--I assumed it was an immature eagle but it looked too light on its back for me to definitely say. I don't think it was anything exotic, but I took a digiscope of it and put it on my eBird list anyway. If anyone wants to take a guess, have at it.