Sandpiper and Sparrow

Baby Red-winged Blackbird

Today I received an email with information on the tagged Semipalmated Sandpiper I saw at Hillman Marsh on June 2.  It is from Brazil, and was captured this past January!  Here is a portion of the email:

Thanks for submitting your report of the semipalmated sandpiper from the Hillman Marsh Conservation Area, ON. This bird was banded on 23 Jan 2012 at our study site, Coroa dos Ovos, state of Maranhão, Brazil. If you use the coordinates for the site (1°26'50.44"S, 45° 9'17.40"W) in Google Earth, you can see where it is. We haven't yet uploaded our data to the website which is why you didn't get any information about the bird when you submitted your report.

Best regards,

David S. Mizrahi, Ph.D.
Vice-president, Research and Monitoring
New Jersey Audubon Society

It is fun to hear back on these observations!

This evening I drove around a few back roads north of town just to see what was around.  It was quite windy, but one never knows what to expect.  A Western Kingbird, Western Meadowlark, a flycatcher?  There are still a few pastures or grassy fields to check though.  Nothing really good for Dickcissels though, but I tried.
I did find one really interesting bird, at least for this area.  A Clay-colored Sparrow!  It was in sort-of-sutiable habitat next to a pasture.  It was not one to expect in the local area at this particular time, and in fact I have never seen one here!  I also heard a Grasshopper Sparrow there.
I stopped at the "Bullfrog Pond" spot and found a large number of Little Wood Satyrs flying about.

I encountered a sizable Fox Snake as well.

A Mallard family was swimming in the pond.