Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow

THE CREAGRUS CALIFORNIA LIST
A personal portfolio

all photos & text by Don Roberson
all photos taken in California

NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED SPARROW Ammodramus nelsoni

13 Jan 2002

The NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED SPARROW is a rare but regular wintering bird in coastal salt marshes in California. Spring & fall vagrants elsewhere are even rarer.

All of my California records are listed below. Those preceded by H were found or co-found by me personally; those preceded by K receive some partial credit (e.g., I was involved in sorting out i.d. of a previously discovered bird or refound a vagrant that had been thought to have left). My notes in the 1970s do not always sort out credit issues so it is possible additional birds might have been "self-found." As with many eastern vagrants, many more were seen during active rarity chasing throughout the state in younger days, and a higher percentage of records are from my local county (MTY) in recent years.

These are most of my personal Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow records (there are a few more to be extracted from notes):

12/31/75     Upper Newport Bay ORA
5/26/76     Oasis MNO     description sent to CBRC; no copy kept
5/27/76     Furnace Creek INY     description sent to CBRC; no copy kept
12/7/86    Arcata HUM    typed description & marginal photo
12/13/93    Palo Alto Baylands Refuge SCL    brief description in notes
11/6/94    Carmel R. mouth marsh MTY    sketch & typed description (below)
1/19/97     Morro Bay SP marsh SLO    brief description in notes
1/13/02    Elkhorn Slough MTY    photos (above)

I have a sketch and typed description of the Carmel R. mouth bird that I set out below:

See the family page for county abbreviations. All photos & text © 2002 Don Roberson; all rights reserved.
Readers may use this material for their own private enjoyment, study, or research but none of the photos or text herein may be used commercially nor may they be reposted on other web sites without written permission. All material is copyrighted. The posting of photos and text on this private web site is not a submission to review organizations, including, but not limited to, the California Bird Record Committee. However, blanket permission for use of descriptions by North American Birds editors in their research is granted, and serious researchers in general are granted permission to use the records cited herein.

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Page created 18 July 2001, updated 5 Feb 2002