Date: 12/21/24 12:14 pm From: Dave Nutter <nutter.dave...> Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Harris’s Sparrow in Tompkins County, December 2 until...?
Harris’s Sparrow is big and hardy. It breeds in north central Canada from the west shore of Hudson Bay - the area famous for Polar Bears - in a broad northwestward swath across northern Manitoba, the northeast corner of Saskatchewan, and much of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, to the north edge of the continent along the Northwest Passage by the islands in the Arctic Ocean.
Harris’s Sparrow normally overwinters in the Great Plains from eastern Wyoming and southern South Dakota south to eastern New Mexico and most of Texas, but it has shown up as a rarity in every U.S. state except Hawai’i. This year one of those places is Tompkins County.
On December 2, 2024, the hosts of a feeding station near the hamlet of Caroline Center reported to eBird that they had pinned down the ID of a Harris’s Sparrow which they suspected had been around for a few days before they were able to see it well enough.
As an unexpected and unfamiliar species here, and wearing its less obvious immature plumage, there’s no surprise that this bird took awhile to identify. Others birders who came to see the bird - and knew what to look for - reported that it’s often skulky, staying within vegetation, and only coming to the feeders briefly.
But both the bird and the birders persisted. As of this writing on the first official day of winter, this rarity has been seen by at least 104 individual observers on at least 14 days. Some of the no-show days had warmer weather when perhaps the bird felt no need for supplemental food, but now that most of the interested birders have seen it, and the enthusiastic college students have left town, and the weather is getting harsh, fewer birders are looking. One later observer thought the bird probably felt at home because conditions were so tundra-like.
But there may be a reward for continuing to check for this bird. Each of the other 3 times Harris’s Sparrow has been reported in Tompkins County, it stayed at feeders the entire winter, in 1972-73 in Ithaca, in 1989-90 in Groton, and in 2010-11 in Dryden. That last time, what started as an immature bird in December was in adult breeding plumage by the last report in early May.
Harris’s Sparrow’s breeding plumage is striking, with a solid black crown and bib on the throat and breast. The immature is more subtle, but still beautiful to my eye: Yes, its a somewhat stripy brown bird above, but below it is largely white. It has a small white throat patch offset by a narrow black moustache stripe on either side. The future solid black bib begins as an outline of black spots with an extra large black central breast spot (not brown like a Song Sparrow). These black spots sometimes look like a bold necklace. The side of the head, where most sparrows have stripes, is instead almost solidly tawny extending from the pink bill to the nape. The dark eye is contrastingly cute. To me, the best part is its crown, where each tiny feather shows a bit of black, forming a fine pattern, giving the impression that the bird has a brush cut. This is worth waiting awhile in the cold to see.
The location is at 1700’ elevation in an island of cleared land on a high saddle surrounded by forest. Near an angled rural T intersection is the house & modest yard with feeders and some evergreens. Across the quieter road is a field overgrown with Teasel and clumps of Multiflora Rose. The bird has often been found inconspicuously resting in those rose clumps or the yard’s evergreens. The rest of the open land is agricultural fields, and the nearest active buildings are part of that farm.
To be more precise it’s at the southwest end of mostly-seasonal Speed Hill Rd near its intersection with Buffalo Rd. It’s best accessed from NYS-79 in Slaterville Springs by turning south to drive up Buffalo Rd. Or you can take Central Chapel Rd southeast from Brooktondale, then climb Old 76 Rd eastward to the crossroads in Caroline Center and turn north onto Buffalo Rd.
The rare bird alert on December 2 prompted a query. “Is it inside the Cayuga Lake Basin?” asked a birder who keeps a traditional yearly list within that boundary. A topographic map showed it was close to the edge, but outside the Basin. But Harris’s Sparrow is so special anywhere in the northeast U.S. that I headed out to try to see it anyway, along with another birder who, like me, also mainly stays within the Basin.
Indeed, the yard with the house, its feeders, and the evergreens, as well as the field with the Rose clumps - in fact, everywhere that I’m aware that the Harris’s Sparrow has been seen - all were on the side of the saddle which descends east to a little stream valley, which feeds Willow Creek, then flows into the West Branch of Owego Creek, to the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay. Not to Cayuga Lake, Lake Ontario, and the St Lawrence.
But the drainage divide was only about 200 yards away from where the bird was being seen, or .11 miles according to eBird as I moved along the roads. A neighboring house, plainly visible to the south, across Buffalo Rd from the barns, that house, which also has a bird feeder, is inside the Cayuga Lake Basin. If anyone finds this bird at that farmhouse or anywhere else other than the original yard and scrubby field, please let me know. I’d love to be able to add Harris’s Sparrow to the 2024 - or the 2025 - Basin First Records List!
- - Dave Nutter
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