This isn't specifically a sighting report, so apologies if it's too off-topic.
As a lifelong New Yorker who's felt disconnected from the city this past year-plus, I'm grateful for Tom Fiore's vivid reports on the ebb and flow of bird- (and other) life through the city. I was especially interested to read the recent news of a brief influx of Lark Sparrows into New York County. A month ago, my wife and I came upon a Lark Sparrow in the marvelous restored grasslands at Croton Point Park in Westchester. It was, I learned, the first July record for the county, and only about the twelfth ever. Unsurprisingly, we thought it was a typical one-off...but this subsequent influx has made me wonder if something else might be going on. This was, after all, the Summer of the Spoonbill, with discussions of why the species' range appears to be expanding. And one of the joys of Croton Point Park has been witnessing the breeding success of Dickcissels, a bird that seems to be reclaiming long-lost turf every year. So I wonder if the Lark Sparrows we've been seeing aren't actually "lost souls" (like Westchester's Tropical Kingbird of a few months back), but early scouts for an eventual range expansion as well. Thanks for listening-- Joseph Wallace -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
