Sprague's Pipit - Cameron Rutt
Report

Contributor

Date

Location

Baton Rouge--Ben Hur Rd. (roadside birding ONLY – do not go into fields, do not pass the gate on Crossbred Ln., do not go into LSU Aquaculture)
East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States
Media from this location Illustrated Checklist
Map
Map Coordinates: 30.3651366, -91.1707252
Age
Not specified
Sex
Not specified

Observation details

Conservative count for this local rarity (although it's likely annual at this location), these guys were squeaking up a storm as they indecisively bounded slowly above the fields. We regularly kicked birds up around the middle of the field complex, just N of the greenhouses. However, their solitary habits and long, circuitous flights made it very difficult to get an accurate count. At minimum, we had 5 birds in the air at once, which circled Dan and Garrett as Dan played song recordings. It would not be surprising if there were up to, say, 8 birds out here. They seemed to mostly hang out along the wide grassy field roads (particularly the verges?) and a few fields that were covered in some sort of short, green ground cover. They were very skittish today, as it was difficult to just plain see any of them on the ground. I felt lucky just to photograph one on the ground.One was pursued relentlessly by a Tree Swallow (see photo for documentation).

Technical information

Model
Canon EOS 7D Mark II
Lens
EF400mm f/5.6L USM
ISO
800
Focal length
400 mm
Flash
Flash did not fire
f-stop
f/6.3
Shutter speed
1/5000 sec
Dimensions
3257 pixels x 1958 pixels
Original file size
2.62 MB