ammospiza caudacuta
St. Augustine, Florida – Dr. Robert Hayling Freedom Park
Saturday, March 29, 2025 – 8:19 am
I stood on the edge of the marsh, watching my lifer Seaside Sparrow when I saw several other sparrows chasing each other through the grasses. One stopped long enough for me to see it well and get some photos. It was a Nelson’s Sparrow, which I had seen once in Illinois back in 1998 and not since. They paid me no attention and perched in plain view on three or four occasions. I estimate that there were three, but I really have no idea.
But since I’d had luck with the Seaside Sparrow and the Nelson’s Sparrow, I decided to go for the trifecta and try for a Saltmarsh Sparrow. The Saltmarsh Sparrow and the Nelson’s Sparrow used to be con-specific, and they look very much alike. For in-the-field identification, the Saltmarsh has sharper, more-defined markings. Both birds have a gray cheek outlined by yellow-orange and a buffy yell0wish breast. But on the Nelson’s the face and belly color are very similar. On the Seaside, the facial markings are brighter and more orange than the breast color. The Nelson’s has wide, blurry gray streaks on the breast. The Saltmarsh has narrow, thin streaks that extend down the sides.
I played the Saltmarsh Sparrow song once, and immediately an obvious Saltmarsh Sparrow popped into view low in the grass and stuck around long enough for me to get photos. The Saltmarsh Sparrow is rare, perhaps even considered endangered. St. Augustine is at the southern end of its winter range, so I hadn’t had high hopes. But sometimes things work out. (And sometimes they don’t. I made significant efforts to see Short-tailed Hawk, Nanday Parakeet, and Gull-billed Tern on this trip, all lifers, and missed on all three.)
It was still half an hour before high tide, and I’m sure the show would have gone on for a while longer, but I had a long drive ahead of me, I’d gotten my lifers and a second-ever bird, and I’d gotten clear, diagnostic photos of all three. It was a good morning.
And here, for purposes of comparison, is a Nelson’s Sparrow.
