On October 22, 2022, twelve birders joined field trip leader and ABAS Recording Secretary Laurie Voss for a morning of birding at the “Burn”. Our primary targets for the day were migrating sparrows that frequent the tree line along the prairie. As the birders were arriving, three Northern Harriers were actively hunting the fields.
Shortly after the bird hike started, we began seeing several White-crowned Sparrows and Swamp Sparrows. These sightings were soon followed by good looks of Savannah Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, and Dark-eyed Junco. Our total sparrow count for the day was seven species.
The group took a short break to devour the donuts before driving a short distance to another field where we were able to find large numbers of Horned Lark, an Eastern Meadowlark, and more of the sparrows that we previously had located. In all, it was a fun morning of birding.
Photo courtesy of Chuck Anderson.