Clay-colored Sparrow at Newburg Road Pond ~ October 14, 2023

Just before 11:00 AM, Adam Miller found a Clay-colored Sparrow at the Newburg Road ponds area. Since I was only 10 minutes away, I headed over there. Adam, Mike Schall, and I walked over to the area where he had the bird. Lots of Song and Savannah Sparrows were present along with one or two Swamp Sparrows. Two Eastern Meadowlarks flew from the grassy area, circled around, and landed at the far end of the field. I got a few photos of them before they landed.

Eastern Meadowlarks

After a couple passes through the same area where Adam had found the Clay-colored, a pale sparrow flew up and landed in a maple tree on the Kock Toyota side of the chain-link fence. It eventually flew back down near the edge of the cattail patch where Adam, once again, spotted it sitting up in view. It got some documentation photos of it before it dropped back down into the grasses.

Note the broad, pale gray nape on the Clay-colored Sparrow evident in the last two photos.

Later, an adult Peregrine Falcon was spotted on one of the powerline towers.

Peregrine Falcon

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