After yesterday’s double (decided I wasn’t totally comfortable with the Lesser Yellowlegs), I agreed to lead a BBC chase for the sparrow, which would have been the 300th bird in the club’s Big Year. I decided to walk again, but since it was an early start, I went straight up Trapelo.
I did go down Emmaline and check conditions at the West Meadow (was soaked 1/3 of the way down and no obvious flycatchers), so I came in from Dawes. Almost as soon as I got through the gate, a warbler gave a couple chips to the left. I took a quick scan and saw what looked like a yellowthroat. However, on getting bins on it, the entire belly looked yellow and there was a fairly obvious eye-ring. I fumbled for the camera and managed a photo quiz quality shot:
The bird moved a bit and I lost track. Moving a bit closer to try and refind it, I heard another chip up high. I certainly wasn’t expecting it to be coming from this:
My first August White-throated Sparrow.
I then met up with the large crowd and we fanned out. No luck with the Lark Sparrow and no luck refinding either of these goodies. Back home, seeing the photo on screen made it very obviously a Mourning Warbler and a quick email around was good confirmation. So my second for Waltham, first overall in fall, and a third patch tick in 2 days (only fourth of the year).