I paid another visit to the SE corner of the Deer Creek Wildlife Area this morning. In addition to barrel loads of Swamp Sparrows and Song Sparrows there were 3 LE CONTE'S SPARROWS. One of them was ridiculously unwary, the other 2 less so. The one bird sat atop a cattail preening without a care in the world until it followed the other two into dense shoulder high grass to the east. The birds were near the S end of the eastern fork on the east side of the cattails. I didn't see any Nelson's today but there could have been some further N around the main southern pond. The two forks are now bone dry. I did flush an AMERICAN BITTERN on the S end of the pond while looking for Nelson's.

The reservoir is now being drawn down and mudflats are appearing, better late than never. In addition to ~75 widely scattered Killdeers, the only other shorebirds so far present seem to be a small number of Dunlins.

The fields in the northernmost part of the wildlife area are loaded with sparrows, although variety is limited. Song, White-crowned, and Field Sparrows are all abundant right now with some Swamps in the mix. Should anyone want a triple digit tally of White-crowneds right now, it wouldn't take a whole lot of time and effort to do so. American Tree Sparrows haven't begun to arrive yet from what I can tell. I did see a few Dark-eyed Juncos in the mix with White-throateds along the creek.

If you have questions or need directions please check my Birding Guide to Deer Creek on my website :

http://www.roysephotos.com/DeerCreek.html

Bob Royse


Robert Royse
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www.roysephotos.com


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