Striped Sparrow (Lifebird ?) and McCown’s Longspur, Williamson County, TX, February 2015

On January 11 it was reported on the NARBA website that a Striped Sparrow had been discovered in Williamson County, TX close to Austin.  I had never heard of Striped Sparrow before, and for good reason - this was the first sighting of the species in the ABA region.  The bird is normally found in Mexico in states as close as Sonora and Chihuahua, within about 500 or 600 miles of Austin.  That wouldn’t generally be considered to be too far for a bird to wander, but the problem with Striped Sparrow is that it is non-migratory. 

Given this background there was considerable discussion on the web about whether this bird would ever be accepted by the Texas Rare Bird Committee as a countable species and a new addition to the ABA list.  Though on the other side of the coin, this species is not generally kept as a caged bird, did not have any obvious feather wear, and did not appear tame.  And certainly the fact that it was spending the winter in a flock of sparrows in the middle of nowhere sure didn’t sound much like it had just escaped captivity.

The Texas Committee had accepted other similar controversial vagrants in the past.  And the bird was apparently quite reliable, being reported almost daily feeding on a roadside with a flock of other wintering sparrows.  So with an upcoming business trip to Houston, I decided to add a vacation day to give it a try.  You know what they say – see the bird first, then wait to find out if the authorities decide to accept it.  And since it will likely be long gone by the time the Committee rules on it, you certainly can’t wait on the ruling to chase after it.

At first light I arrived at the well-described roadside spot where the Striped Sparrow had been frequenting – along CR 428 0.1 miles east of its intersection with CR 361 near the No Dumping sign.  There was already a flock of sparrows feeding on the shoulder, but it was a bit too dark to identify them.  I parked the car a short distance to the east and set up my scope to wait for a little more light.  As it got closer to sunrise I could start to pick out quite a number of Harris’ and White-crowned Sparrows, along with smaller sparrows which were especially Songs and Lincoln’s.  But no target bird.  I was still optimistic, since there was almost constant activity along the shoulder – I just needed to wait until it arrived at its identified feeding spot. 

Between 8:00 and 8:30 4 other birders arrived, which ordinarily would have been a good thing – more eyes to look for the bird.  But a couple of the birders were quite talkative, and one was especially loud.  Plus one talked the others into standing closer to the feeding spot to get a better look at the bird when it did arrive.  With all the talking I was worried that we were too close.  During this time one birder mentioned that they had been there 5 hours the previous day and had not seen the bird.  Another said it is now most likely seen near dusk.  Suddenly I wasn’t feeling too optimistic. 

Then one birder mentioned that maybe we should look back to the east a short distance since it was seen there the previous day.  I hadn’t read anything about this second spot, but I looked over there and sure enough there were about a dozen sparrows feeding there at the road’s edge.  It was 150-200 yards to the east and too far to identify the sparrows from our new location.  So I decided to walk toward that second area and give it a try.  Besides, there was no reason to have all of us looking at just the one location.  Plus I could get away from all the yacking that was going on.

Over the next hour or so the sparrows continued to come and go – I counted 10 species in total.  And there was a constant chorus of Carolina Wrens and Red-bellied Woodpeckers from the adjacent woods.  At one point I heard a Titmouse and I took a break from the sparrow watching to see what I imagined would be a Black-crested Titmouse for the first time in years.  However, it turned out to be a Tufted Titmouse – a rarity for the eBird list.  Another rarity for the area was an adult Red-headed Woodpecker that came within earshot.  A couple flyby Caracaras were nice too though not unusual – I just don’t see that one much (despite a couple tries for one in Maine this summer!). 

Another interesting reflection while scanning through the sparrows was that I probably saw more Harris’ Sparrows that day than ever before – likely 15-20 birds.  Then I realized why – although I’ve seen this species in 14 states across the country, I’ve never birded in their key wintering range in winter.

At 9:30 I finally struck paydirt.  I was back to scanning through the flock when all of a sudden, there it was – the Striped Sparrow.  No question about the ID – a large sparrow (roughly Harris’ size), wide black ear patch, white supercilium, and dark rusty cap.  I quickly got the other birders on it, and we enjoyed long views of it as it fed.  At times it would retreat with the other sparrows back to the brush, and would then reappear a couple minutes later on the shoulder.  Where had that bird been all morning?  Although the sun angle wasn’t the best, I got a number of phonescoped photos, including these passable shots. 

I had a couple more hours free before having to head back to Houston, so what to do next?.  Earlier I heard one of the birders mention that McCown’s and Chestnut-collared Longspurs had been reported nearby.  The only Longspur I had on my TX list was Lapland, so both would be targets.  With my BirdsEye app I found the locations where each species had been seen, though the McCown’s were more regular.  After a short drive I was at the edge of a dirt field where most of the McCown’s sightings had been.  There were sounds of prairie birds everywhere – singing Eastern Meadowlarks, and calling Horned Larks and American Pipits were all around me.  I started to walk into the field and quickly flushed a small flock of Western Meadowlarks – paler backs and slower wingbeats than Eastern.  A short distance away I saw a flock of Longspurs of some type landing in the field and I headed their way.  Although I didn’t refind them, I did see another closer flock of 10 birds fly by.  With my binocs I got good views of the tail patterns of the birds – they were indeed McCown’s.  Later I had a single bird fly over and land pretty close to me and got good scope views of the sitting McCown’s.  TX was my eighth state for McCown’s and covering most of its regular range – in MT, WY, ND, CO, and NE as a nester, NM and KS as a migrant, and now TX as a wintering bird (see my statebird map below).

I made a couple other stops where the Chestnut-collared had been reported but with no luck.  Though there were more Larks and Meadowlarks at each stop.  I ended the day with nearly 70 species – not bad since I spent most of the time standing in just one spot watching Sparrows.

If the Striped Sparrow is countable, it will be #744 for me in the ABA and #722 in the Lower 48.  And the Sparrow plus the Longspur would give me 419 in TX.  Although TX is my largest statelist, it is only 66% of the total TX list.  My best list as a percentage of the total for that state is NH at 89%, though my state list is just 354.