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LeConte's Sparrow --Nash Farm near Lovejoy, Georgia

EXPLORE # 184---I am interrupting the Rosy Finches to bring you this special bulletin!!!!!!

 

Christmas came early today for me!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!

 

This is the only Ammodramus Sparrow that has eluded me to get a class "A" portrait shot of. (The one in Americus last month did not count). I believe this is the bird initially reported by Carol Lambert and Jeff Sewell on Georgia Birders Online. It's rarity garnered a spot on the Georgia RARE BIRD ALERT!!!!

 

In fact on all of Flickr there are only 3-4 closeup photos of this bird that are in focus.

This attests to how hard it is to get a clear shot at this species.

 

These birds are winter residents in the south, but seldom ever seen due to their very secretive nature. It was pure joy for me today to capture this most beautiful sparrow on the shortest bright sunny day of 2009!!!!!! The Winter Solstice!!!!

 

LeConte's Sparrow was first collected in central Georgia in 1790 and described by English ornithologist John Latham. The bird was not reported again until on May 24, 1843 John Bell and John Audubon collected one in what is now south-central South Dakota. Audubon was unaware of the earlier description, and so named it for his friend Dr. John L. LeConte.

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Uploaded on December 22, 2009
Taken on December 21, 2009