ML492940921
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
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- Playback
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Observation details
Specifically, here: 37.386876, -118.424504 The odd thing is that I had been thinking about Swamp Sparrows for the previous 10 minutes, walking along the watered ditch with reeds behind our house. I thought the timing and habitat were right so I was purposefully listening for the Black Phoebe-like vocalization and looking for them in the marshy ditch. I was also slightly surprised that I had not yet encountered a Song Sparrow on this walk or even encountered a Lincoln’s Sparrow, which others have been encountering in the past couple weeks in good numbers. When I flushed a compact rufous-backed small sparrow from one portion of the reedy ditch to another, I wondered if it was a Swamp Sparrow. It landed in some reeds and I got a partially obstructed view of its face which was richly colored in rufous, light gray, and dark charcoal. Later, I was able to get a view of the front which was unstreaked, though a little bit smudgy with grays and buffs, particularly in the flanks. I did not see the central breast so couln't see if the spot was present. With peek-a-boo looks, I wanted vocal confirmation, so I played its call from the Merlin app once and it responded immediately and called continuously for five minutes, at which point I made a recording, attached.
Technical information
- Recorder
- Microphone
- Accessories
- Original file size
- 2.83 MB