ML645345425

觀察細節

Second Yolo County record!! Found by “Spook and Shoot” when it flushed off the ground and landed on the fence about 30m ahead of us. Naked eye view in flight tripped alarm bells for us as it appeared long-tailed, with an undulating flight and dark brown tail and gray back. Upon getting it in bins we both were shocked and thrilled to realize that it was a Sage Sparrow and likely a Sagebrush. We got out of the car and spent the next ~2 hours watching the bird off and on as it moved about the weedy ditch with a silty basin on the north side of the road, occasionally popping up on the fence for excellent looks. The bird often foraged right at our feet at times within 10’. It spent most of its time in the area just east of the yellow gate on the north side of the road, roughly here: (38.4159101, -121.6868958). This was a relatively large sparrow, similar in size to a Zonotrichia, with a gray-brown mantle, pale white underparts with brownish sides, a pale gray helmet characteristic of Sage Sparrows, and a proportionately long, dark brown tail with paler outer retrices. Its underparts were faintly streaked with a central breast spot, and it had a pale malar, white throat, white eyering, and white supercilium. Compared to a “canescens” Bell’s Sparrow, this bird has a paler malar stripe (though still complete unlike some individuals), an evenly streaked back especially in the center, and long primary projections. The bird was often seen pumping its tail palm-warbler-esque when foraging, and when running along the bare ditch basin it often held its tail cocked, behavior consistent with members of the genus. We noticed the bird was washed with a pale brown on the nape and top of the head, something we hadn’t before noticed in the species. We observed this bird with Bart Wickel, Josh Greenfield, Ethan Monk, Sean Smith, Sam Schmidt, Derek Nunes, and Kirk Swenson. To our knowledge, the only prior Yolo County record is from 20 Oct 2017, on County Road 27 by Rick Williams. That bird was not chasable. Many photos of this bird to be attached.