[Birdnet] BAIRD'S SPARROW

[Larry Tripp]

Today at Lytle Ranch in the orchard there was a Baird's Sparrow. I wasn't convinced until I got home and looked at some references. I never really got a great look at the bird but did see enough to separate it from other Ammodramus Sparrows. I chased it around for at least an hour trying to get looks at it. I would almost have to step on it to get it to fly then it would only go 20 to 30 feet and dive back into the grass. After doing this about ten times I was finally able to spot it while scanning through the grass with my binnoculars while I was only about eight feet away from it. I only saw the head upper back and sides of the upper breast. I was lucky to even see any of it except in flight. It would alway move through the grass from where it would land which made it a guessing game as to where to look without flushing it. The tail was one thing that helped in flight. The outer web was pale. It wasn't obvious like a vesper and the first time I saw it I wasn't sure because it would dive back down in the grass so quickly. But after seeing it a couple times I was sure I was seeing a pale edge.
I last saw it at the begining of the orchard. 

Larry Tripp

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