Migrant Lincoln's Sparrow in west Corvallis

[Joel Geier]

This morning while checking for color-banded Vesper Sparrows at Bald Hill Farm (Greenbelt Land Trust property) on the west side of Corvallis, I encountered a Lincoln's Sparrow that was loosely associating with a flock of young White-crowned Sparrows, in a thin stringer of shrubs in an otherwise open pasture.

A few Savannah Sparrows and about a dozen Vesper Sparrows -- mostly juveniles from this year's nests -- were also nearby, foraging in a stand of mostly Madia sativa (tarweed). I didn't see any Chipping Sparrows but there have still been a few hanging around another monitoring site north of Corvallis.

Two or three weeks ago you could hardly walk through these sites without hearing the constant "spit!" calls of Lazuli Buntings, but I didn't see or hear any buntings today.

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Joel Geier

Camp Adair area north of Corvallis