I participated in the Iowa Ornithologists’ Union field trips\u00a0this past weekend.\u00a0 These were run in connnection with the fall meeting of the IOU at Neal Smith Prairie Preserve near Prairie City.\u00a0 On both days I elected to participate in the field trip which\u00a0 “walked” the prairie in search of Smith’s Longspurs, Lapland Longspurs and the various sparrows (e.g., the Emerizinae Subfamily)\u00a0that can be expected in central Iowa in late October.\u00a0 No Smith’s Longspurs were seen, probably because they have not gotten this far south yet.\u00a0 A few Lapland Longspurs were observed in flight.\u00a0 The sparrows were a better story.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0The best observations were of LeConte’s Sparrows.\u00a0 We saw several each day and they made themselves very obvious by coming within a few feet of the group and posing close-by on whatever little\u00a0stalks or twigs that\u00a0they could find.\u00a0 The photographers in the group were especially ecstatic.\u00a0 Everyone remarked that never before had they observed so many LeContes at such close and sustained range.\u00a0 Clearly, they were the highlight for many of the birders, including me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The other sparrows\u00a0that I was able to identify\u00a0were:\u00a0 White-throated, White-crowned, Savannah, Vesper, Swamp, Song, Fox, Lincoln’s,\u00a0Harris’s, \u00a0Field and Juncos.\u00a0 Some other particpants reported finding\u00a0a Clay-colored, one or two early Tree Sparrows, and a late Grasshopper Sparrow.\u00a0 Oddly, I do not recall if anyone saw any Chipping Sparrows, and I would have thought they would still be present.\u00a0\u00a0 Another less surprisingly absent (I believe) species was Nelson’s.\u00a0 Henslow’s, which are now quite common at Neal Smith in summer, were all gone.\u00a0 Nor, as I recall, did anyone see a Lark Sparrow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It looks like a good year in Iowa for the northern finches.\u00a0 A fair number of Pine Siskins and a few Purple Finches were observed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I participated in the Iowa Ornithologists’ Union field trips\u00a0this past weekend.\u00a0 These were run in connnection with the fall meeting of the IOU at Neal Smith Prairie Preserve near Prairie City.\u00a0 On both days I elected to participate in the … Continue reading