This evening Alex, Mark and I went to the PSU Retention Pond. It was pretty quiet with just a few Mallards and Canada Geese on the ponds and Red-winged Blackbirds in the cattails. Our excitement came when a Lincoln’s Sparrow popped up onto some dead vegetation about 20 feet from us and perched for a long time, occasionally giving its flight call.
With no camera along, I pulled out the iPhone and tried some digiscoping. I am pretty happy with the results I got despite the limited light provided by the quickly setting sun. I also took some video which is below the photo.
Lincoln's Sparrow- Penn State Retention Pond
The Lincoln’s Sparrow was very cooperative which gave us time to get great looks at it. This can be a tricky identification, and for me the things that stick out the most are the yellowish malar stripe and the greenish/yellowish/buffy flanks and chest with thin streaks. For a better quality video, click the HD button on the lower right side of the video and follow the link to watch it fullscreen at vimeo.com.
Lincoln’s Sparrow from Drew Weber on Vimeo.
LISP at the PSU Retention Pond