Rare Hybrid at Green Pond ~ October 17, 2023

I drove up to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary to meet my old friend and neighbor from way back in high school. Starting back in 1973, he and I would drive up to Hawk Mountain on the weekends in his '67 Mustang to hawkwatch. That's where my birding began. I sat under the same tree that I did 50 years ago, although it was now a lot bigger. We spent most of the morning and early afternoon there and watched a fairly good flight of Sharp-shinned Hawks along with a few Northern Harriers, Red-shouldereds, Bald Eagles, a Golden Eagle, and a Merlin.

An adult Bald Eagle going by below the North Lookout.

An adult male Northern Harrier.

On the way back home, I stopped at Green Pond to see if the Bonaparte's Gull was still there. When I got there, it was circling around and dropping into the Farmersville Road retention pond, which is the one right across the road from Green Pond itself. I've observed a pattern that when it's not on Green Pond, it will fly over and feed in that pond for a while and then return. The flight shot was taken at the retention pond and the one of it on the water was at Green Pond.

Bonaparte's Gull circling over the Farmersville Road retention pond.

Bonaparte's Gull at Green Pond.

I always check the little wooded pond by the house at the intersection. That's when I spotted this "head-scratcher" sparrow. It appeared somewhat similar to a young Swamp Sparrow with the grayish face and some rufous in the wings, but the yellow lores, the plain gray face lacking the stripe behind the eye, and the white throat with lateral stripes had me bugged. It was close to a Seaside Sparrow but didn't match that in several ways. I was initially thinking something like a Swamp x White-throated Sparrow hybrid, but thanks to a consensus from other birders, this is most likely a rare White-throated Sparrow x Dark-eyed Junco hybrid. Luckily, it sat up long enough to grab these photos of it.

A rare White-throated Sparrow x Dark-eyed Junco hybrid

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