Nelson's sparrow at Lake Park, 10/31

On Nov 1, 2009, at 10:54 AM, Jym Mooney & Carol Lee Hopkins wrote:

Hi Paul & Brian,

I got back supportive comments from John I., Steve Lubahn, and Peter
Fissel,
and I feel more confident that I did indeed find a Nelson's sparrow
yesterday at Lake Park. I plan to submit a report to WSO since this
appears
to be a fairly late migrant.

Very exciting to add another life bird to my list. I was actually
searching
the rocks and brush along the lakefront yesterday hoping I might find a
Harris's sparrow for my year list, but what the heck, I guess I'll
take a
Nelson's!

Jym

-----Original Message-----
From: Jym Mooney & Carol Lee Hopkins [mailto:hopmoon@milwpc.com]
Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2009 1:38 PM
To: 'steven lubahn'; Wisbirdn
Subject: Possible Nelson's sparrow at Lake Park, 10/31

I had an intriguing sparrow this morning on the lakefront along the
soccer
field east of Lake Park. It first popped up onto a rock within brushy
vegetation on the north end of the shoreline, just before the water
treatment plant. This was the only chance I got to get any optics on
it (my
bins). My first impression was a buffy face, not otherwise heavily
marked,
and I caught my breath as I realized it might be a Nelson's or LeConte's
sparrow. The bird quickly dropped and kept low and moving in the brush,
finally flushing about ten feet into some tall dry grasses and brush
closer
to the fence. I thought I had lost it, until while circling the
grassy spot
I suddenly realized it was just a few feet in front of me, lurking
down low
in the vegetation. For the next 15 minutes I was able to get fleeting
glimpses, just eyeballing, as I was too close for optics. Finally a
large
SUV came around the corner in the water plant side of the fence and
the bird
flushed into the long row of bushes that parallels the fence, and I
did not
find it again.

My impressions were that this was a very small sparrow, and very
secretive.
Once I saw it run quickly a couple of feet within the grass and
brush. The
bill looked proportionate to its size (not stubby like a LeConte's).
The
top of the head was dark with a grey crown stripe, and once I saw the
bird
from behind and noted a grey nape as well. The back was dark with a
couple
of rough white streaks; I was reminded of the "saddle" on a marsh
wren by
the pattern, although on this sparrow the whole back had the
pattern. When
it flushed the first time I noted that the spread tail feathers seemed
pointy and separate (not an even end of tail edge like most of our
common
sparrows).

I did not get a look at the breast or belly of this bird. What holds me
back from being sure it was a Nelson's was that the face color was
not the
bright orange that Sibley illustrates. It was more buffy. (The
light was
not optimal, as it was overcast this morning when I found the bird.)

I have never seen a Nelson's sparrow before, so before I make the call I
wanted to solicit comment from some of our sparrow experts out there.

Thanks for any suggestions/comments.

Jym Mooney, Milwaukee