I think a major highlight of my birding summer so far has been the chance to study all 5 of the Ammodramus Sparrows that occur in the interior US (you have to go coastal to see Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow and Seaside Sparrow, a geographic feature my travels in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota lacked.) For an overview of this genus, I'll also plug a great new resource- David Sibley has put is seminal field guide online! Link to his section on Emberizine Sparrows and Allies and scroll down to see an overview of the 7 North American Ammodramus (I'll also link to each one.)
If I were to summarize this genus, I'd say "small, secretive, shrill (voiced), and subtle" (field marks.) Two were new to me, and I was excited not only to see them but to photograph them all (however poorly in a couple of cases.) The first lifer I got was Henslow's Sparrow. I wasn't expecting this one, being north of their regular range, but one was a bit north of normal at Crex Meadows, a fantastic state wildlife area in Burnett County, Wisconsin. Andy Paulios, the Wisconsin eBird reviewer, very handsomely provided me with directions to the territory. As is usually the case with Ammodramus, I heard the bird for quite a while before I finally tracked the little guy down singing from a weedy tassel (I'm no botanist so I don't know what this plant is.) I only got digiscoped pics through atrociously bad air, but you'll see the extensive rufous in the wings and the greenish wash on the lighter areas of the head. (In his sparrow ID workshop at the ABA Conference in Minot, Jon Dunn said it's like Henslow's had its head dipped in pea soup.)
Another Ammodramus I heard and saw at the same spot was Le Conte's Sparrow. These guys have a really lemony-yellow wash to their head and an boldly striped back and crown. I didn't work on photos too hard since I already had some decent pics of the species. Very dapper birds, Le Conte's like it pretty moist underfoot. 
On my way to the Minot ABA conference I stopped at Chase Lake NWR near Jamestown. I was hoping to find a pre-conference Baird's Sparrow but struck out. I did have this mightily-buzzing Grasshopper Sparrow along a back road, though. They are more buffy overall but have yellow above and in front of the eye, plus a little on the leading edge of the folded wing. Their bodies are unstreaked and they have a prominent spot at the back of the auriculars (feathers behind and below the eye.) 
The second lifer Ammodramus I gleaned on this northern plains jaunt was Baird's Sparrow. Our field trip to Lostwood NWR turned up several, and I was happy to get scope looks along with all of the participants. I also really learned the song- nothing like hearing a bird sing (however softly) as you are watching it to gel up the audio-visual neural connections. After the conference was over I went back to the refuge on my own and found a stretch of the auto tour with 3 or 4 competing males in bushy clumps next to the road. The pics below were taken out my car window- don't forget the power of using your vehicle for a blind when possible (and safe.) This refuge is one of the best places in North Dakota to find this species due to their grassland management plan that included prescribed burns and grazing rotations that mimic bison foraging patterns- heavy for a while and then a few years of rest. Without fire, the grassland gets too brushy and wooded, and with over-grazing the grass gets too short. Unfortunately, over much of the Baird's Sparrow's historic range one or the other negative impacts has made the landscape unsuitable for this tidy little bird. Note the dark border on the back of the auriculars is thickest at the top and bottom rear corners, so from many angles it looks like the bird has two spots towards the back of the head. It also has a pale orange wash over the light parts of the head- Jon Dunn relates this to a wash in pumpkin juice.
The 5th Ammodramus of my trip (and the last one possible without a detour of perhaps 1500 miles east, was Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow (probably soon to be shortened by the AOU to just Nelson's Sparrow.) I heard these at several places in North Dakota, but for me this has always been a very difficult sparrow to see. First of all, it sings most at night, or in the dim dusk and dawn periods. Secondly, even when it is singing in daylight it is often well hidden in its preferred marshy sedges, reeds, or cattails. Its song is very short, thin and high pitched with a wheezy, hissed quality that makes directional locating and distance estimation a challenge. Also, since it likes such a marshy habitat it can be hard to approach without hip boots or a willingness to get pretty wet (and often a bad idea anyway from a habitat protection perspective.) Fortunately, though, the tour road at Lostwood NWR went through a low spot with marsh right up to the road's edge on either side. This was home to at least two Nelson's Sparrows (and a Le Conte's, and I was able to photograph a really orange-faced one out my car window. In my superficial little mind, this is my favorite Ammodramus for looks (on those rare occasions where you can see one well), but the poorest vocalist among an already weak-sounding bunch. Oh, and in the second pic I think you'll see how Sharp-tailed Sparrows got their name...
Ammodramus Country: I'll guarantee there are 4 species of Ammodramus sparrows in this picture! (composite taken from the fire watch tower at Lostwood NWR.) Nelson's in the emergent marshy veg around the potholes, Le Conte's in the thickest, wettest grass right above the marshes, Grasshopper and Baird's up in the healthy, dryer native grasses.
Hi everyone- I've been madly birding for the last 4 days at the American Birding Association conference in Minot, ND. Up at 4am each day, out to see tons of cool birds doing cool things, and then back to network and socialize with a great group of birders, hear informative talks, and learn about sparrows in Jon Dunn's workshop. Finally slept in this AM and am packed and ready to go birding some more later today and tomorrow. Not much time for details now, but here are some favorite pics so far... More later!
Looking up at a skylarking Sprague's Pipit
Looking down at a Virginia Rail
Looking out at the bird pictured on the auto tour loop stop (Piping Plover)
Red-necked Grebe
Ruffed Grouse on its drumming log
Clay-colored Sparrow
Horned Grebe
Grasshopper Sparrow
Back in April, I wrote about a new camera I'm using for digiscoping, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 (hereafter the G1 for short...)I've had the chance to test it out more on my Leica APO-Televid Scopes (angled 62 & 77mm), and I'm liking it a lot. While I can hand-hold the camera to my 32X WW eyepiece and get good results, I'm back to mainly using the threaded Swarovski DCA adapter. I find this to be super quick, secure, and it automatically centers the camera. The diameters of the adapter and eyepiece don't quite match, but since the adapter is a wee bit bigger I can use a shim to make up the difference for a secure fit. Ben Lizdas of Eagle Optics figured out how to do this- see this post on Mike McDowell's digiscoping blog to see how it works.
While the kit lens (14-45mm) works pretty well for digiscoping there are still vignetting issues. To minimize vignetting, I set the camera to the medium-sized files, which only uses the middle 6 MP of the 12 MP array. Yeah, I could also just crop out the dark when shooting full-sized files, but I like limiting the vignetting to better see what I'm getting in the viewfinder. In conjunction with the EZ zoom setting (not "easy", but Extended optical Zoom), using medium file size fills the viewfinder with the image and minimal vignetting at around 18 or 20 mm zoom on the kit lens. Here you'll see how the viewfinder position is adjustable to either fill the back of the camera, or come out to the side and pivot to whatever angle you need. It also reverses on the back of the camera so it is facing inward and protected when you don't need it. Using the electronic viewfinder emulates looking through the scope, something I like to do in bright conditions or when tracking moving birds.
The small, distant yellow highlighted area in this photo is the part of the tray feeder the rig is photographing- there's nothing like digiscoping to pull in birds!Here are some sample pics I took at the Colorado Field Ornithologists annual convention in Alamosa, Colorado over the Memorial Day weekend. The White-rumped Sandpiper and Snowy Plover were at Blanca Wetlands, a wildlife area managed by the BLM. It hosts the state's largest concentration of breeding Snowy Plovers (a species of special concern in Colorado), and gets goodies like the White-rumped Sandpiper, rare in the San Luis Valley (it doesn't yet appear on the official Alamosa County bird list but we'll see about updating that.) The Sandhill Crane was one of a pair just south of Poncha Pass in the far northern end of the San Luis Valley. They aren't known to breed in the SLV but having a pair in habitat like this at such a late date is very suspicious. A forest service biologist is following up to see if breeding can be confirmed. 
These three images
illustrate the power of digiscoping, with its ability to nicely document birds without approaching closely enough to disturb them.
There is a lens promised for release later this year in the new Micro Four Thirds format (introduced in this camera) that might be ideal for digiscoping- a 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens. If and when I can test it out the I'll let you know how it works. Several folks have been experimenting with other pankake lenses using adapters with good results, but if I understand correctly they also lose autofocus when they move out of the dedicated Micro Four Thirds format. As news on what works well is rapidly changing, I suggest following the digiscoping birds list to keep abreast of developments regarding the G1 and its digiscoping applications.
My buddy Nathan Pieplow, master bird sound recordist and all-around great guy, has started a great blog started dedicated to bird song and related analysis- give it a look!
Last weekend, I finally got the chance to hike into Yellow Jacket Canyon in the far SW corner of Colorado. This site is famous among Colorado birders as the only reliable spot in the state for breeding Lucy's Warblers. I almost got the chance to visit in 2004, but the flu kept me in my Montrose hotel room then as my buddies went in to get the bird for their Colorado lists. Fortunately, Lucy's has bred there every year since (and probably has bred there for a long time prior to the 2004 discovery), and one of the first birds we put our bins on once we reached the riparian cottonwoods was a Lucy's! 
I was there as part of my Ute Mountain/Mesa Verde Birding Festival itinerary. Coen Dexter and Brenda Wright led the trip, involving a hike in of about 1.5 miles through pinon/juniper scrubland and rimrock to get to the riparian strip of Yellow Jacket creek. Gray birds, noteably Gray Vireos and Gray Flycatchers, serenaded us on the way in and out along with Black-throated Sparrows and Black-throated Gray Warblers. Lovely birds all, but no good bird photo opps to speak of this time (group trips aren't ideal for bird photography...) So I looked for herps and cactus blooms to fill some memory card space instead.
While trying for better looks at the Lucy's Warbler pair that was foraging up and down the creek bottom we saw an immature male Summer Tanager- another very nice bird for the state. Bushtits were around, and one revealed its nest as it brought food into the tube sock-like structure.
There are almost certainly more Lucy's Warbler spots in that part of the state, but access to the riparian strips is mostly private around there. Homesteaders snatched up these wet strips long ago for their ranch headquarters and hay meadows (who can blame them?), leaving the dry scrublands as open range (now mostly BLM lands.) I'd say the place has more of a Utah/Arizona feel to it, which isn't surprising since Yellow Jacket Canyon is just a Long-nosed Leopard Lizard's leap away from both states! Speaking of which, this Long-nosed Leopard Lizard was certainly the non-bird wildlife highlight for me- a lifer herp.
We wrapped up by stopping at a bridge along a county road on the way back to Cortez, with a mud-speckled nest-building Black Phoebe as our reward. Another west-slope specialty for Colorado, Black Phoebes seem to only build nests overhanging moving water, so either steep rock outcrops rising from rivers or bridges are often the best place to look for them. I was looking almost straight down at this bird through a gap in the bridge- an unusual angle but kind of cool results when it looked up to see what was making those strange clicking sounds above it.
Many thanks to the Ute Mountain/Mesa Verde Birding Festival for having me- I really enjoyed speaking there and had a great time on my field trips. I feel like I just got the teaser tour and would love to go back for more in-depth exploration of that undervisited corner of Colorado!!
Another Ammodramus I heard and saw at the same spot was Le Conte's Sparrow. These guys have a really lemony-yellow wash to their head and an boldly striped back and crown. I didn't work on photos too hard since I already had some decent pics of the species. Very dapper birds, Le Conte's like it pretty moist underfoot. 
On my way to the Minot ABA conference I stopped at Chase Lake NWR near Jamestown. I was hoping to find a pre-conference Baird's Sparrow but struck out. I did have this mightily-buzzing Grasshopper Sparrow along a back road, though. They are more buffy overall but have yellow above and in front of the eye, plus a little on the leading edge of the folded wing. Their bodies are unstreaked and they have a prominent spot at the back of the auriculars (feathers behind and below the eye.) 
The second lifer Ammodramus I gleaned on this northern plains jaunt was Baird's Sparrow. Our field trip to Lostwood NWR turned up several, and I was happy to get scope looks along with all of the participants. I also really learned the song- nothing like hearing a bird sing (however softly) as you are watching it to gel up the audio-visual neural connections. After the conference was over I went back to the refuge on my own and found a stretch of the auto tour with 3 or 4 competing males in bushy clumps next to the road. The pics below were taken out my car window- don't forget the power of using your vehicle for a blind when possible (and safe.) This refuge is one of the best places in North Dakota to find this species due to their grassland management plan that included prescribed burns and grazing rotations that mimic bison foraging patterns- heavy for a while and then a few years of rest. Without fire, the grassland gets too brushy and wooded, and with over-grazing the grass gets too short. Unfortunately, over much of the Baird's Sparrow's historic range one or the other negative impacts has made the landscape unsuitable for this tidy little bird. Note the dark border on the back of the auriculars is thickest at the top and bottom rear corners, so from many angles it looks like the bird has two spots towards the back of the head. It also has a pale orange wash over the light parts of the head- Jon Dunn relates this to a wash in pumpkin juice.
The 5th Ammodramus of my trip (and the last one possible without a detour of perhaps 1500 miles east, was Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow (probably soon to be shortened by the AOU to just Nelson's Sparrow.) I heard these at several places in North Dakota, but for me this has always been a very difficult sparrow to see. First of all, it sings most at night, or in the dim dusk and dawn periods. Secondly, even when it is singing in daylight it is often well hidden in its preferred marshy sedges, reeds, or cattails. Its song is very short, thin and high pitched with a wheezy, hissed quality that makes directional locating and distance estimation a challenge. Also, since it likes such a marshy habitat it can be hard to approach without hip boots or a willingness to get pretty wet (and often a bad idea anyway from a habitat protection perspective.) Fortunately, though, the tour road at Lostwood NWR went through a low spot with marsh right up to the road's edge on either side. This was home to at least two Nelson's Sparrows (and a Le Conte's, and I was able to photograph a really orange-faced one out my car window. In my superficial little mind, this is my favorite Ammodramus for looks (on those rare occasions where you can see one well), but the poorest vocalist among an already weak-sounding bunch. Oh, and in the second pic I think you'll see how Sharp-tailed Sparrows got their name...
Ammodramus Country: I'll guarantee there are 4 species of Ammodramus sparrows in this picture! (composite taken from the fire watch tower at Lostwood NWR.) Nelson's in the emergent marshy veg around the potholes, Le Conte's in the thickest, wettest grass right above the marshes, Grasshopper and Baird's up in the healthy, dryer native grasses.
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