Hancock Field 2/23--Harris's Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow (digiscope)

I usually feel that looking for a little bird in a big field is a mug's game, so I wasn't too eager to go up into Mercer County to chase the reported Harris's Sparrow. But, when I read the descriptions, they all said it was feeding with a flock of White-crowned Sparrows. Since I haven't been able to find White-crowns in my two spots--a driveway outside of Assunpink and strip of hedges in New Egypt, I figured they would be my consolation prize when I probably didn't find the rarity.

I drove up to East Windsor to the newly named hotspot of Hancock Field (Please stay on the road), missing the turn onto the gravel road in the murk of the morning. When I got there, I parked my car near the brush pile landmark, and immediately 20 juncos flew out of it. Not what I wanted. I plunked down my scope and soon a few White-crowned Sparrows emerged from the brush, feeding probably not more than 5 feet away from it. I like White-crowns and I scanned around from adult to immature birds. Then, because I wasn't expecting it, the Harris's Sparrow popped up in my eyepiece. I had a choice: watch the bird or try to take a picture of the bird--distant and enshrouded in fog. I watched the bird, getting all the field marks for a first year bird--it looked fine in my scope, invisible in my binoculars. One other guy was there, scoping from a 90 degree from where I stood. He walked over and we compared notes. 

Some other birders started coming up, but from what I can tell from the rare bird alerts, the bird didn't reappear until late this afternoon. This is only my second Harris's Sparrow. (By the way, I hate the orthography of "Harris's." I prefer the ownership apostrophe on the terminal "s" in these cases.) The first one (which I saw 3 times) was a few years ago, also in Mercer County, just a tad inland from where Washington crossed the Delaware. It was just this time of year, too. I remember seeing the original report during the Great Backyard Bird Count, so dismissed it, as birds are routinely misidentified during that 4 day period--"Brewer's Blackbird is common at my feeder," "We have Common Ground Dove year round." That sort of thing, but in this case, the stopped clock was right and the bird hung around for more than a week on a residential street. 

When the HASP disappeared (presumably back into the brush), I started fooling around with digiscoping with my phone. I did surprisingly well with the White-crowned Sparrows, which were aesthetically much more pleasing than the blotchy Harris's Sparrow.