ML647162185

Podrobnosti k pozorování

**Rare; scarce and unusual along the LI Sound beaches, particularly farther W on the CT shoreline. 1st Sandy Point record since Mar 2022. Stratford’s Long Beach is the farthest West reliable spot for them in the State (farther W in Fairfield almost never gets them), and even such, New Haven Co. has no locations where they can be expected. Ipswich is an all-time favorite sparrow of mine, and I’ve been searching hard for them since arriving at college. Having spent lots of time at Sandy Point and other shoreline spots in winter, I can say with some assurance that IPSP is pretty much absent around the New Haven Harbor with the exception of vagrant birds. As the three of us approached the last quarter of the inside of Point on our way out, I noticed a small bird rummaging through the grass. It struck me as small and pale, and with IPSP not really on my mind, I was a little unsure of what it was. As soon as I got binocs on it, the frosty pallor of winter plumage IPSP radiated back at me. Hefty SAVS-type bird with bright pink legs and a slightly-less-pink beak, diffuse buffy streaks, a whiter base to the chest and back plumage, and no warm brown markings on the back or tertials. We followed it as it fed on grasses from the ground, exclusively running and never taking shorts flights as nominate SAVS more of the does. It never left the ground in the 5-10 minutes we spent with it and once it scuffed into taller vegetation, we left it to enjoy its day unperturbed. Fantastic highlight of the day, making this otherwise boring day worth it! Photos to come