I arrived at the park at 8:16 AM. It was cold, about 35, and perfectly cloudless. I parked at the “normal” parking area with the porta-potty and then walked down to next parking area so that I could walk up the back water before entering the swampy area. I started seeing a good variety of sparrows there and that variety continued through the morning. In addition to the sparrow, I two “wren” surprises: First, I saw a Marsh Wren in the backwater vying with the sparrows. I wasn’t sure at the time but thought that might be the first time I had seen that bird there. It was. Later, as I entered the Horse Trail area from the northern edge of the grassy field north of the paved trail I saw a Bewick’s Wren. This was also a new bird for me at that park although I had seen one last week at Hulsey Fish Hatchery. I may be mistaken but that was probably a notable sighting. I saw the field marks to look for, he was large, with a prominent eye stripe, sripes under the tail, and plain white underneath, to distinguish it from the Carolina Wren.
As I was leaving, I saw a single LeConte’s Sparrow in the tall grass north of the paved trail. In all, I saw six species of sparrow with many individuals and two new for the park wrens.
Species seen or heard:
• Bewick’s Wren
• Marsh Wren
• Lincoln’s Sparrow
• Swamp Sparrow
• Song Sparrow
• White-throated Sparrow
• Field Sparrow
• Le Conte’s Sparrow
• Eastern Towhee
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Canada Goose
• American Crow
• Mourning Dove
• Carolina Chickadee
• Carolina Wren
• Killdeer
• Northern Mockingbird
• Blue Jay
• Northern Flicker
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Belted Kingfisher
• Northern Cardinal
• American Coot
• Eastern Phoebe
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Turkey Vulture
• Ring-billed Gull
