Number 300 - Harris's Sparrow

 

October 23^rd

          Mike woke me up out of a dead sleep at 6:15am and said, “If you want to chase the Harris’s Sparrow, you need to get up now.”  The Harris’s Sparrow was in Dayton, and I needed to be home by 4:00pm so I got out of bed and tried to wake up.

         We left about 6:45am and headed for Dayton.  Our destination was the Huffman Prairie Flying Field which is actually located within the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.  Google maps kept routing us right through the base, so we drove up to a gate.  The soldier asked if we had a military ID and we said no.  He asked for Mike’s driver’s license, filled out a report and said we couldn’t enter through the base but gave us directions for the civilian entrance to Huffman Prairie.  After driving in a few circles, we finally figured it out.

         We found the entrance to Huffman Prairie and saw several birders who were looking for the very rare Harris’s Sparrow which had been seen earlier that morning.  We started walking along the quiet road and saw a variety of sparrows and other birds.  After a brief search, I spotted a bird on the chain link fence that caught my attention.  It flew closer and landed in a bare tree.  I got a good look and realized that I was looking at the Harris’s Sparrow.  I signaled to Mike that I had the bird.  He hurried over and we both got good looks at this special bird.

         The Harris’s Sparrow is a large sparrow that breeds in the northern part of central Canada.  In the winter they migrate to the Great Plains from southern South Dakota to central Texas.  They are largely restricted to the middle of North America and are very rare in Ohio.

         It has a long tail and pink bill.  It has a black face and bib with streaky brown upperparts and a white belly.  

         This is our 300^th species for the year.  When we began our Ohio Big Year in January this was our personal goal.  We didn’t advertise it much because we weren’t sure if we could do it.  It has taken a lot of time, many long drives all over the state but we both have a great sense of satisfaction for achieving this milestone.  We will continue to look for more birds to add to our total and share our adventures with you.

(1 new species, total for the year 300)

Harris’s Sparrow (very rare) 

                                    Harris's Sparrow