Clay-colored Sparrow, Franklin Twp., NJ, June 5, 2017 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)
(Click on the photo for a larger image.)
Susan Treesh found a Clay-colored Sparrow on Sunday, June 4 near the blue trail in the fields of Six Mile Run, Franklin Twp. The sparrow continues today in the same area. Ray Duffy supplies accurate coordinates for viewing the bird: 40.477759,-74.562553.
Clay-colored Sparrow (CCSP) is a rare spring visitor to New Jersey, especially inland. The Six Mile Run CCSP sings its 2-3 part buzz “song” every few minutes, at least while this observer was present. An example of the song was recorded by Jeff Ellerbusch on June 4. That recording is here.
Clay-colored Sparrow, Franklin Twp., NJ, June 4, 2017 (photo by Chris Thomas)
Six Mile Run is part of the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park. It contains over 3,000 acres of what once was planned as a reservoir and is now grassland and forest habitat instead. Besides a virtual plethora of Field Sparrows, the area also has Grasshopper Sparrows, Willow Flycatcher and other species typical of the area. Negri-Nepote Native Grassland Preserve is nearby making this section of Somerset County an excellent location to get one’s fill of Grasshopper Sparrows, Blue Grosbeaks, et al.
Lesser Nighthawk: gone
Somerset County’s other glamourous avian vagrant, the Lesser Nighthawk of Lord Stirling Park, has not been seen since Friday evening, June 2.
More than 130 people used eBird to document the Lesser Nighthawk. Many others visited the Nighthawk as well making for an impressive gathering of birders over the course of eight days.
View local eBird checklists in the mocosocoBirds region via eBird’s Region Explorer. Use the following links:
The eBird Hotspot Primer is here and can also be accessed via the Hotspot menu item on the mocosocoBirds.com website.
The mocosocoBirds Facebook page is located here and also posts timely information not found on the mocosocoBirds web site.
@mocosocoBirds at Twitter is another communications stream. Instant field reports and links of interest are tweeted throughout the day. The latest tweets appear on the sidebar of this page. One can follow mocosocoBirds at Twitter or link to @mocosocoBirds.
Finis
mocosocoBirds 
I just got my first Clay-Colored Sparrow last month in Big Bend NP. It’d be nice to see another here in Franklin, especially since the Texas one off before my fiancee could spot it. Thanks for these updates.
Grasshopper sparrows were fairly evident in the same field where the clay-colored sparrow was found. I wonder if Negri-Nepote isn’t “seeding” these nearby areas with new families. Ted Chase recently reported GRSP at the Courteyous Lane Six Mile Run site. I had myself birded this very same field on Blackwells Mills 2 or 3 years ago around the same time of year,, without finding GRSP. I wonder if the habitat restoration at Negri is bearing fruit in terms of an expanding GRSP population?
I guess this is an argument in favor of the micro-reporting encouraged by E-Bird, I don’t enjoy the breaking down of every site into 5 or 5 mini-locations – but I see in this instance how valuable it would be to see the evolution of the June fauna in this one field year by year. Is this nuts? Or is it the effort of curious minds to explore further?
Pingback: Gull-billed Tern, Common Gallinule – June 16, 2017 | mocosocoBirds