Towhees and Sparrows

Bachman’s Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

Clay-colored Sparrow

Field Sparrow

American Tree Sparrow

Vesper Sparrow***

Spotted Towhee

Eastern Towhee

Bachman’s Sparrow

Peucaea aestivalisformerly Aimophila aestivalis
At 6 a.m. on 8 May 1940, Gordon Meade entered a clearing in Mendon Ponds Park, and was greeted with a song of “unusual beauty which was entirely new to me in twenty years of observation in this region.” It sounded like a cross between a Field Sparrow and a towhee, he wrote in notes printed in the Auk the next year. (Auk 58: 103-104) For five straight days, the small bird when first seen was “always on the top of a small aspen or conifer,” Meade noted. “There it would remain, singing at ten- to thirty-second intervals, until approached too closely or rapidly when it would stop singing, become uneasy, and then would dart down with a very shallowly undulating flight into the grass or low branches of a conifer.“When found again and flushed, there would be a short low flight and another drop into the grass. After a waiting interval it would again take an elevated perch and resume singing.”It was a Bachman’s Sparrow, never before reported in our region. “Just what induced this bird to wander so far north of its normal range is another of those problems which make bird study such a fascinating hobby,” Edson noted. (WBR, 13 May 1940) And then, to top it all off, it again was found in the park the following spring.
Background
This is an “enigmatic” resident of the American southeast, with a simple but pleasant song, and shy, secretive habits. Historically it was most common in mature, open pine forests, but with the logging of those forests, it is now found in open clearcuts and utility rights-of-way where it still finds the grassy conditions it prefers. Its range and population expanded tremendously from 1890 to 1915, but it has retreated from the northern parts of its range since the 1930s. It apparently benefits from deforestation and farm abandonment, which provide degraded pastures or clearcuts, but may disappear when forest succession renders open habitats unsuitable. It is now rare in many areas where it was once common. (BNA 38: 1-2)
Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as an exotic, very rare visitant.
Occurrence
Two records. 1. Though Meade did not have a permit to collect the vagrant he found 8-12 May 1940, there was no doubt about its identity. The bird was under observation for periods of one-half to one and one-half hours for five days, at distances as close as eight feet. It was “compared carefully” not only with textual descriptions but skins of a related subspecies. “Confirmation of identification was also made by Mr. Fred Hall, of Ward’s Museum, who was previously familiar with the bird in Tennessee” and by five other experienced members of the Genesee Ornithological Society, Meade noted.“There seems to have been no strong south wind to have carried him from his course, so he must be put down as a pioneer blazing his way into new country,” Edson wrote. Meade described the clearing as overgrown with meadow grasses and scattered small aspens and conifers, bordered on three sides by heavy deciduous woodland and on the fourth by a swampy, brush-covered area. Edson speculated that the park’s hills, with scattered white oaks and aspens among its grasslands, might very well prove an ideal breeding area for this species. 2. Speculation of eventual breeding here was further fueled when “The Bachman’s sparrow again is back in Mendon Ponds Park for the second spring,” Edson reported. (WBR, 29 April 1941) The bird was seen on 20 April 1941. “Last spring one of these birds spent several days in the same location.”Edson speculated that both birds seen here had “joined some migrating flock of sparrows” and ventured far north of their normal range. “The location . . . selected, near Lost Pond in Mendon Ponds Park, while not exactly the same as it seems to prefer in the normal nesting range, may yet prove satisfactory and a colony may eventually become established here.” It didn’t happen. This remains a bird primarily of the southeast U.S., and these remain the only sightings in Monroe County.

Chipping Sparrow

Spizella passerina
As participants in a Genesee Ornithological Society field trip wandered amid the blooms of Highland Park on 13 May 1992, they came upon a curious sight. “On the downside of the hill we came upon two Chipping Sparrows spiraling up into the air in a tight vortex about two feet above the ground and coming down to rest, only to repeat the process again and again. Their loud chipping song accompanied this aerial dance – probably a courting ritual – that none of us had ever seen before.” (GOS, June 1992)In fact, these may have been two males fighting over territory. Such confrontations are “frequently followed by ascending (rising through 2-3 m), head-to-head flight with rapid wing fluttering and bill-sparring,” according to Alex Middleton in his profile for The Birds of North America. “Birds are usually separated by a few centimeters, but they may grapple in flight.” (BNA, 334: 11)“None of our native sparrows except the Song sparrow is more familiar than the Chippy, which is found everywhere in New York about the farmyard, the garden, the orchard and in the groves and parks, but more particularly near the habitations of men,” Eaton wrote in the early 1900s. (Eaton II:308-9)That assessment still holds true today. Background
This is one of North America’s most common and widely distributed migrant songbirds, breeding across most of Canada and the United States and into Mexico and Central America, in open woodlands, at the edges of forest openings, in brushy or weedy fields and in towns and gardens, especially preferring to nest in conifers. Greatly increased in numbers and range during European settlement in early to mid 1800s as forest was cleared for agriculture. Declined in early 1900s because of competition from House Sparrows and increased parasitism from Brown-headed Cowbirds. Reforestation of abandoned farmland has also reduced some of its habitat. However it is probably more abundant and widely distributed now than before European settlement. Residential and suburban habitats, “with their ornamental conifers and shrubs, mixed with open grassy spaces, provide ideal breeding habitat.” Males wander from their territories during the breeding season; some studies suggest this species is less monogamous than previously thought, with both sexes seeking extra-pair copulations. Continental population appears stable overall based on BBS data. (BNA 334: 1, 3, 12, 14, 22-23)
Local history
Eaton (1910) listed this as an abundant summer resident in Monroe and Livingston counties, and common in Wayne. (Eaton I: county charts)R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated average counts of 15 to 25 birds, with a maximum count of 200, on dates ranging from 22 March to 6 November.In 1953, Leo Tanghe listed this as an abundant breeding bird in the Rochester area, specifically listing Durand-Eastman and Powder Mills parks as nesting locations. (GOS, May/August 1953)
Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, common summer resident and an occasional, very rare winter visitant.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a sporadic very rare winter visitant, a (presumably regular fairly common) spring and fall transient and a regular common summer resident.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 17 March to 29 April, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 4 to 20 April. One 15 March 1986 west lakeshore was an earlier arrival. (KB 36: 152)
Spring maxima: 35 on 3 May 1986 (Reinhardt, C. Cass) Rochester. (GOS, August 1986)
Summer/breeding status: This species is well-adapted in our area to suburban lawns with bushes or trees, to parks, to expressway interchanges where clumps of pines or other evergreens are scattered across open spaces. The BBA projects confirmed or found probable breeding in almost every block assigned to our region.

This observer was delighted when one hopped up on his front porch one spring and strenuously tugged at a densely woven mat, extracting pieces of the straw-like fiber for its nest in a spruce. These were once called “hair birds” because they also use horse hair to line their nests, Edson noted. (“Three kinds of sparrows,” D&C, 21 April 1920)
Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of departure dates from 30 September to 3 December, with a mid range, or “normal departure time” of 16 October to 3 November.
Fall maxima: 200 on 15 September 1970 (Foster) at Lima. (GNR) 50 on 2 October 2000 (Clarridge) Mendon Ponds. (GNR) 36 on 5 October 1968 (Lloyd) at Webster. (GOS, December 1968) 50+ on 11 October 1982 (F. Dobson, J. Kesselring) Geneseo. (GOS, December 1982)
Winter: Wintering birds are rare but have been found, on average, every other year the last three decades. One was reported 2 January 1960 (Listman) near Conesus during a winter of record snowfall (GOS, March/July 1960); another was at a Honeoye Falls feeder (R. Jones) on 1 February 1972 (KB22: 88) and one was reported 3 February 1974 (O’Hara) at Rochester. (KB24: 75) Region 2 Kingbird reports mention January or early February sightings of this species in 12 of 30 years from 1976 to 2005, including one banded on 6 January 1986 (Brooks) at Pittsford. (KB 36:91) Another was at Honeoye Falls (K. and J. Fox) on 21 February 1995 (LG, March 1995), just days before another was at Webster (Cerosaletti) on 1 March. (LG, April 1995)
Misc.
Though these birds are unmistakable in breeding plumage, adult non-breeding birds can be confused with Clay-colored Sparrow. Gerhard Leubner, for example, trapped and banded what appeared to be a very late Chipping Sparrow in his Irondequoit yard on 27 November 1956. However, the more he reviewed the field marks of various sparrows, “he began to wonder whether the bird could possibly have been an immature Clay-colored Sparrow.” Fortunately, the bird Leubner had banded obligingly returned to his trap two days later, and again on 1 December, allowing him to “check one vital field mark – the rump was the gray of the Chipping Sparrow rather than the buffy-brown of the Clay-colored Sparrow.” (GNR)

Clay-colored Sparrow

Spizella pallida
If you were to pick a suitable location for our region’s first documented breeding of Clay-colored Sparrow, where might it be? Probably not amid the suburban yards at the end of Babcock Drive in Brighton. And yet, that’s exactly where Julie Claffey heard an adult bird singing its distinctive, buzzy, insect-like song on 7 July 1972, and saw it feeding two – possibly three – immature birds. During the next nine days more than 20 birders came to observe the family. “The first few days, the adult sparrow sang most often near a buzzing power line,” Claffey noted. Given this sparrow’s song – a “series of 2 to 8 low, flat buzzes that have a remarkably nonbirdlike quality” (Andrle, p. 440) – this led Claffey to wonder “if this were a territorial response.”After five days the adult shifted its main perch away from the power line to the top of a small oak tree where “it would sometimes sing for over half an hour without stopping or changing its perch.” (GOS, July-September 1972)This species appears to be slowly, but surely establishing a breeding presence in our region, with eight blocks of probable or confirmed breeding in the latest Breeding Bird Atlas project. Background
This may be the most numerous songbird in low shrub communities of the northern prairies, especially in the southern parts of the Canadian prairie provinces, notes Richard Knapton in his profile of this species for The Birds of North America series. This is a direct result of human settlement and prevention of prairie fires, which has “almost completely modified” the original mixed grassland prairies and replaced them with aspen bluffs and extensive stands of snowberry and silverberry. “It is in these low shrub communities that Clay-colored Sparrows reach their highest densities.” This species expanded its breeding range to the east and north starting in the early 1900s, and now nests in central and southern Ontario Province, and as far east as extreme southern Quebec. Much of this expansion has occurred in areas that were logged over, and in abandoned farmland and Christmas tree plantations. But it is declining in some areas where shrub has been cleared for agriculture and urban development. (BNA 120: 1-2, 12)
Local history
Edson marveled that one would end up “so far east of its normal range” in the prairies when it appeared near the tennis courts in Webster Park on 28 May –1 June 1960. (WBR, 6 June 1960) It was our first regional record. Allen Kemnitzer and Warren Lloyd found it. “The observers’ attention was first directed to the bird by its peculiar, rasping song,” Howard Miller reported. (KB10: 61) “Several other observers had ample opportunity to carefully study the bird at leisure at close range and to listen to its distinctive song. Although the bird is new to this region, its identification seems irrefutable.”One seen by John Foster, Al Maley and Tom Tetlow on 29 June 1963 was singing in a field on the ridge between Canadice and Honeoye lakes. Observed until 7 July, it was the second in our region, and one of five reports of singing males statewide that summer. “This sudden rash of Clay-colored sparrow reports may be the result of more field work being done by more observers,” John Brown suggested, “but it may also mean that the species is extending its range to the east.” (KB 13: 205, 210; BA, 11 July 1963).Another was just west of Shore Acres 4-10 July 1965 (KB 15: 232), after which this species was recorded all but two years through 1972. “This bird is appearing locally more regularly than the other two mid-western sparrows, the Lark and Harris’,” Miller observed in 1969. (KB19: 151) “The increase in New York as a migrant within the two decades (1950-1971) was most likely the result of the species extending its breeding range eastward into Ontario and ultimately into this state,” Bull (1974) noted. (Bull, p. 583) There was only one sighting reported in the Kingbird between 1972 and 1986; since 1989, however, this species has been reported almost every year.
Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as an occasional, very rare visitant. Now a regular, very rare summer resident.
Occurrence
Nearly half of the 50-odd records for Region 2 have been in May. The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of dates from 3 May to 20 October. One on 1 May 1986 (R. Dobson) in Greece appears to have been record early. (KB 36:150)

Summer/breeding status:The first successful New York breeding record occurred in summer 1971 in a Scotch pine Christmas tree plantation near Alfred. (Bull, p. 585) Then came Claffey’s family in 1972. There was no evidence of breeding in Region 2 during the first Breeding Bird Atlas project (1980-1985). However, during the second project sightings of two birds each were reported from Warsaw, Pittsford, Penfield and Parma in June 2003, which turned out to be a “banner year for the appearance of breeding pairs” in our region. (GOS, September 2003) Breeding was confirmed in three blocks and was probable in five others assigned to our region. Three of these blocks were in southeastern Monroe County, in and around Powder Mills Park and along the south edge of Mendon Ponds Park. Statewide, the number of blocks with evidence of breeding more than doubled, suggesting this species is slowly but surely establishing itself in New York.Most authorities believe this expansion is coming not from the west but from the Ontario population.

Fall:  Only three September and three October records. One on 20 October 1981 (Griffith) at Lakeshore School in Greece appears to have been record late (KB 32:42) until . . .
Winter: One from 17 December 2006 to 2 January 2007 (R. Spahn et al) was at a feeder in Parma. (LG, February, March 2007)

Field Sparrow

Spizella pusilla
“Wherever the Indigo bird and Chewink find a convenient home, here the Field sparrow will be plentiful,” Eaton (1914) observed. “What the Vesper sparrow is to the wide grassy fields, the Field sparrow is to the brushy hillside, pouring forth his pensive strain both in the morning and at the close of day, and inspiring the passerby to gentler and more humanizing reflections.” (Eaton II: 310-311)This birder, looking for Red-headed Woodpeckers, instead was serenaded by several of these birds in July 2006 while walking Roots Tavern Road south of Avon, in the narrow shrub line that separated the road from the famous oak-opening field to the south. He also heard them singing along the Lake Ontario State Parkway in Kendall, where trees and shrubs separated the shoulder from the adjoining farm fields.   Background
This songster of brushy pastures and second-growth scrub can be found across most of the United States from the Plains states eastward, and can be a year-round resident over much of its range. Nests in early spring are located on or near the ground in grass clumps or at the bases of shrubs, but are built higher in small saplings and shrubs as ground cover gets taller; pairs renest rapidly if nests are lost to predation. Highest breeding densities are in Missouri, Kentucky and Ohio. This species was probably at its greatest abundance in the late 1800s, after the felling of eastern forests, but before the increases in woodland, agriculture and suburban development. Though by no means threatened, this species appears to be declining in numbers as shrubby old fields revert to forest or are cleared for agriculture or development. (BNA 103: 1, 13)
Local history
Eaton (1910) listed it as a common summer resident in Monroe, Livingston and Wayne counties. (Eaton I: county charts)R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated average counts of one to four birds, with a maximum count of 20, on dates ranging from 22 March to 20 October. Three winter records: January 1920, December 1936 and 9 January 1937.When Leo Tanghe examined 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members from 1951-1954, this species was reported 330 times, trailing seven other sparrows in overall frequency of occurrence. It trailed Song, Chipping, Swamp and Savannah among the most frequently encountered summer sparrows, showing up on 83 of 259 June-August lists within a 50-mile radius of Rochester. (KB 5: 69: 7A-7B)Nonetheless, in 1953, Tanghe considered this an abundant nesting species in the Rochester area, specifically listing the Burroughs-Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary and West Henrietta as nesting locations. (GOS, May/August 1953)     Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, common summer resident and an irregular, rare winter visitant.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this an irregular rare to uncommon winter visitant and a regular common summer resident.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 5 March (1970) to 19 April, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 31 March (1953) to 11 April.
   Spring maxima:   60 on 28 April 1978 (M. Carlson, F. Carey) at Letchworth SP. (LG, May 1978)
Summer/breeding status: The first BBA found evidence of breeding throughout the region. Most of the decline in number of blocks during the second project, not surprisingly, was in western Monroe County where development pressures have been severe.

Fox reports it can be found in fields and hay lots throughout Livingston County. (Fox, p. 91)
Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of departure dates from 29 September to 26 November, with a mid range, or “normal departure time” of 15 October to 4 November.
    Fall maxima:    50 on 15 September 1970 (Foster) at Lima. (GNR)    30 on 12 October 1969 (Cornell, Foster) at LeRoy. (GOS, December 1969)   40 on 14 October 2005 (Zettel) at Rush. (LG, December 2005)
Winter: One in a swamp at Durand-Eastman Park on 1 January 1920 was the first recorded here in winter, Edson reported. (“Starlings Again Reported,” D&C, 14 January 1920)Now, it is not unusual to find at least one or two of these birds lurking somewhere in the region during the winter months. Four, in fact, were reported on 28 December 1957 (Kemnitzer) near Hemlock Lake and another two to three until 4 January 1958 at Durand Eastman Park after a mild December. (KB 8: 14) Four on 2 January 1966 (Listman et al) were at Conesus Lake (KB16: 101); five were at a feeder from 1 February to 31 March 1973 (J. and A. Foster) in Lima. (KB23: 90) Indeed, Region 2 Kingbird reports mention January or early February sightings of this species in at least 17 of 30 years from 1976 to 2005.
    Winter maxima:    8 on 25 December 1970 Rochester CBC. (KB 21:79)    8 on 1 January 1987 (Davids, D. Tetlow) at Conesus Lake. (LG, February 1987)    9 on 28 January 1980 (R. Clark) at Letchworth SP. (LG, February 1980)

American Tree Sparrow

Spizelloides arboreaformerly Spizella arborea
Frank Dobson liked to tie an old Christmas tree to the trunk of a sycamore in his Greece yard, to provide some extra cover for the birds that winter there. “Even after a snowfall, the ground is almost bare under it and that makes a good place to throw some seed mix.” Among his favorite visitors that took advantage of this feeding spot were American Tree Sparrows. “I always get a kick out of the way they stir things up by scratching at the seed. With rusty caps, white wingbars, two-toned bills and dark stick-pin on light breasts, they are attractive birds, very sleek, quick and deliberate in their movements.” (Birds, 19 February 1984)
Background
The soft, tinkling notes brighten a cold day when these winter visitors pop up in a stand of tall weeds. “Tree” sparrow is a misnomer, since many of these birds breed north of the treeline in Alaska and Canada, favoring scrubby areas, thickets, stunted spruce and open tundra. On their wintering grounds they have been known to beat at weeds with their wings to dislodge seeds, then fly down onto the snow to retrieve them. This is an abundant species, nesting in remote, undisturbed regions, and well adapted to human settlements and feeding stations in winter, and appears to be in no immediate danger. (BNA 37: 1-3, 9)
Local history
Eaton (1910) listed this as an abundant winter visitor in Livingston County, and common in Monroe and Wayne. (Eaton I: county charts)R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated average counts of five to 20 birds, with a maximum count of 140, on dates ranging from 16 September to 10 May.When Leo Tanghe examined 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members from 1951-1954, this species was reported 610 times, placing it fourth among the sparrow tribe in overall frequency of occurrence; it was the most frequently encountered in winter, with average counts of 30 to 50 in late December and early February. Most sightings occurred October through the third week in April; there were no sightings June through August. (KB 5: 69: 7A-7B)
Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, common to very common winter visitant.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a regular very common winter visitant.
Occurrence
Fall/winter: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 16 September to 3 November, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 10 to 21 October.
Maxima: 1,207 on 22 December 1968 on the Conesus-Hemlock-Honeoye Lakes (“Little Lakes”) CBC. (KB 19: 104) 1,265 on 29 December 1968 on the Rochester CBC (KB 19:104) 806 on the Letchworth-Silver Lake CBC on 19 December 1981. (KB 32:116) 600 on 3 January 1971 (Madden) at Livonia. (Fox, p. 91) 400 on 3 January 1977 (A. and J. Foster) at Nations Road (Fox, p. 91) 350 on 11 January 1981 (F. and R. Dobson) west lakeshore. (GOS, March 1981) 400 on 18 January 1976 (Dobsons, Tanghe) west lakeshore. (GOS, March 1976) 600+ on 21 January 2007 (D. Tetlow, Davids, Fox) Nunda. (LG, March 2007) 500 on 4 February 1990 (P. and J. Spindler, R. Spahn, McKinney) at Hamlin. (GOS, April 1990) Bob McKinney, compiler of the Little Lakes CBC suggested in 1992 that this species was experiencing a decline in numbers (GOS, February 1992), and poor numbers had become “typical of most recent winters,” noted the Goshawk in March 1995. Data from all the region’s Christmas Bird Counts appear to back up those observations.

Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of departure dates from 13 April to 31 May (1954), with a mid range, or “normal departure time” of 25 April to 6 May. However, one at Scottsville on 3 June 1974 (J. and S. Skelly) was later. (GNR)
Misc.
Banded bird: One banded on 14 November 1986 at Clarkson was found dead sometime the following February near Wattsburg, Pennsylvania, which is about 125 miles southwest of Clarkson. (LG, January 1988)

Vesper Sparrow***

Pooecetes gramineus
“On clear evenings in May and early June if one walks into the country and takes one’s station near some crossroad, the song of the Vesper sparrow may often be heard in a dozen different directions at the same time; first one individual from a near-by fence post takes up the refrain, followed by another farther in the field standing upon a clod of earth, another farther off on top of a small tree, still farther one from a fence rail, and so in every direction near and far,” Eaton (1914) observed. “The song will be repeated, the farthermost sending only the two higher notes to the ear of the listener. Such a concert is really inspiring if one will take the trouble to stop and listen.” (Eaton II: 286)This species immediately came to mind when this birder looked at aerial photographs of his Greece neighborhood from 1930, when the Dewey/Latta area was a patchwork of farm fields and apple orchards. Could he have stood at that “crossroad” in 1930 and heard the chorus of Vesper Sparrows that Eaton so eloquently described? Quite likely.But not anymore. Those farm fields are long gone, replaced with subdivisions where even a single a Vesper Sparrow would be a noteworthy sighting indeed.
Background
“Across grasslands, open valleys, and arid steppes, the beauty and exuberance of the setting sun is often matched by Vesper Sparrows, as they fill the evening with sweet song while affirming the passing day and appealing for safe passage through the coming night,” observe Stephanie Jones and John Cornely in their profile of this species for The Birds of North America series. This species breeds in dry, open habitats with short, sparse, patchy cover from British Columbia east to Nova Scotia, and south to southern California, New Mexico, southern Illinois and West Virginia. This species benefited from the clearing of eastern forests by European settlers, but is now undergoing a dramatic decline in the east as abandoned farmland reverts to forest. Conversion of pastures to row-crop agriculture, suburban development, loss of hedgerows, nest parasitism and frequent mowing have also contributed to its decline. In the Midwest it relies on row crops and adjacent uncultivated lands; in the West it continues to be common in shrub steppe and open rangeland. This species is one of the first to occupy reclaimed mine sites and colonizes other new areas swiftly when habitat becomes suitable. (BNA 624: 1- 3, 5, 17)
Local history Eaton (1910) considered this an abundant summer resident in Monroe County and common in Livingston and Wayne. (Eaton I: county charts)R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated average counts of one to four birds, with a maximum count of 30, on dates ranging from 16 March to 28 October. Edson, in 1953, noted that this species “prefers the dusty roadside of the lesser used dirt roads and they are often killed by speeding cars as they take their dust baths, like chickens, in the road dust.” (WBR, 6 April 1953)When Leo Tanghe examined 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members from 1951 to 1954, this species was reported only 247 times overall, placing it ninth among the sparrows in overall frequency of occurrence, and sixth among the sparrows seen in summer. (KB 5: 69: 7A-7B)Even so, in 1953 Tanghe considered this an abundant nester in places as diverse as the Bergen Swamp area and Summerville. (GOS, May/August 1953) That is no longer true.By 1978, when an RBA field trip found one of these birds singing along Nations Road, John Brown felt compelled to take note in his bird column. “In former years this bird was such a common nester in this region that finding one would be scarcely worthy of mention. Now, however, like the Bluebird and Redhead, it seems to have fallen on evil times and is no longer a commonplace bird.” (BA, 28 June 1978)
Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, uncommon to fairly common summer resident and a casual, rare winter visitant.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a casual winter visitant and a regular fairly common (formerly very common) summer resident.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 4 March (1962) to 6 May, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 27 March to 5 April. Foster, Maley and Miller had the record early bird on 4 March 1962 in Mendon. (GNR)A spectacular spring flight of birds, apparently migrating, was noted 15-16 April 1961 when “hundreds must have present along the lakeshore for those two days,” Howard Miller noted. (KB11: 102)
Spring maxima: 12 on 31 March 1962 (Listman) Braddock Bay. (KB 12:36) 129 on 8 April 2007 (D. Tetlow) Parma to Carlton when record snowfall forced grounded migrants to bare roadsides. (LG, June 2007) 70+ on 20 April 1983 (Lloyd, W. Foster) Wayne County. (GNR) 20 on 16 April 1978 (M. Carlson) Hamlin. (LG, May 1978)
Summer/breeding status: Few would dispute that this species has declined. However, the true extent of this decline is difficult to trace, illustrating the potential pitfalls of relying on anything less than systematic surveying to document bird numbers. For example, a “great scarcity” of this species was reported during the spring of 1975 (KB25: 155); that summer it was deemed a “disaster species.” (KB 25:214) “Vesper Sparrows are completely gone from most former breeding areas on the lake plain, but are a little better in the hilly land south of Rochester,” Richard O’Hara commented the following summer. (KB26: 216) He speculated that “perhaps more intensive cultivation of land is a factor in their sudden decline here.” And yet, probable breeding was found in 26 blocks in Monroe County alone during the first BBA project. (AL, p. 53) A “minor yet encouraging influx to once abandoned locales” was reported in 1983. (KB 33:188) This species was “quite easily located” by atlasers in suitable habitat in 1984 (KB 34:244), though at the end of the project, in 1985, Kevin Griffith noted that this species “appeared to be faring much better away from the lakeshore.” (KB35: 264) And again, in 2003, participants in the second BBA project found Vesper Sparrows to be “widespread, including in many Blocks on the Lake Plain, where they have been scarce in the recent past.” (GOS, September 2003) One possible explanation: perhaps crop rotation forces this species to relocate away from traditional birding hotspots, going unnoticed until the BBA forces birders to look there. Even so, the second project found no evidence of breeding in large sections of Monroe and the western half of Wayne counties. The heaviest concentration of blocks was in Livingston County –especially the more heavily cultivated northern half – into eastern Wyoming and Genesee counties.

Nations Road, with a recent estimate of five to eight breeding pairs (Burger and Liner, p. 83), and the east side of Letchworth SP are particularly reliable breeding locations, where these birds can be found singing from prominent perches in hedgerows adjoining fields that have plenty of bare dirt rather than thick mats of dead grass. “Wheat fields or old cornfields with exposed dirt seem to be ideal,” Fox notes. (Fox, p. 92) Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of departure dates from 27 September to 15 November, with a mid range, or “normal departure time” of 13 October to 1 November. One on 16 November 1967 (Listman) at Kendall was even later. (GNR) See also winter records below.
Winter: Very rarely found in winter. Two “spent most of February and early March” at the Whites’ feeder in Mendon during the record snowfall of 1959-1960 (KB10:25); another was at the Munsons’ feeder 29 December 1963 to 9 March 1964 in Penfield the same winter that Listman had one at Conesus Lake on 29 December and yet another was near Hamlin Beach SP (J. Foster) on 11 January. (KB 14: 100) Region 2 Kingbird reports mention January or early February sightings of this species in only two of 30 years from 1976 to 2005, including one on 14 January 1995 (D. and D. Traver) at Sodus. (GOS, March 1995)

Spotted Towhee

(formerly subspecies of Rufous-sided Towhee)Pipilo maculates
“A male in good plumage” came to a feeding area on Whittier Road in January 1976 and reappeared irregularly into February, according to John Brown. (BA, 11 February 1976) “It feeds on seeds on the ground and is apparently surviving the winter in good shape.” This was when Spotted had been relegated to subspecies status. Nonetheless, Jeanne Skelly dropped by the Myers residence on 8 February to see if the bird would show. “After a short while the bird came in to feed,” she wrote in the Little Gull. “In flight, the spots are very obvious on the wings and back. When the bird was perched I could see that the wing spots were almost pure white, while the back spots were more buffy. The spots on the back begin near the shoulder and form a ‘V’ down to the rump.” (LG, March 1976)
Background
This western counterpart of Eastern towhee is found in thickets and scrub in three distinct areas: the northern Great Plains, middle elevations of the mountains and intermountain plateaus, and the Pacific coastal lowlands and offshore islands, notes Jon S. Greenlaw in the profile of this species for The Birds of North America series. Interbreeding with Eastern Towhee occurs where ranges overlap in the Great Plains, at one time leading to the lumping of both species as Rufous-sided. However, this was split again as a separate species in 1995. “As in winter, may be recorded from many portions of e. North America during migration, although such occurrences are rare.” Populations appear stable or increasing. (BNA 263: 1, 2, 8, 22)
Status
Sporadic, very rare visitor.
Occurrence Two records: One in February 1976 (Myers, J. Skelly) at a feeder in Chili. (KB 26:103; LG March 1976) One on 22 December 1990 (J. Skelly, Sherony) on the Conesus-Hemlock-Honeoye Lakes (“Little Lakes”) CBC. (KB 41:106) It was observed by Dominic Sherony and Jeanne Skelly “on a scrubby hillside about 2/3 the way down the east side of Conesus Lake.” (Fox, p. 91)

Eastern Towhee

(formerly Red-eyed Towhee, Towhee, Rufous-sided Towhee)Pipilo erythrophthalmus
The Senecas incorporated birds into many aspects of their culture. Three of their eight clans were named Heron, Snipe and Hawk.They were also keen observers of the different behaviors of various bird species, and their stories and legends sometimes try to explain these differences. For example, Chewink was a lazy bird that was tricked by a wily fox into eternally scratching the earth in search of buried treasure. (Marcotte, p. 15) Birders know Chewink as the Eastern Towhee, and still listen for that tell-tale scratching in the leaves, and the distinctive “Che-wink” and “Drink your tea” of this widespread summer resident of brushy hillsides and wood edgings.
Background
This boldly patterned bird inhabits wooded edges across the eastern half of the U.S., favoring habitats where there is a dense cover of shrubs and small trees near the ground and a well-developed layer of leaf litter. Though principally a ground forager, it will also glean caterpillars from foliage in late spring and summer. “Across range, but especially from New Jersey north to n. New England, nearly unrelieved decline in Eastern Towhee numbers has been under way from at least 1966,” notes Jon Greenlaw in the profile of this species for The Birds of North America series. By the early 1990s, numbers in the Northeast were only 13 percent of what they had been in 1966, when BBS routes began. Greenlaw notes that as farmland is abandoned, as it has been in the Northeast, plant succession initially produces habitat that towhees prefer, and they thrive. However, “time is against towhees”: as succession progresses into forest, towhee numbers decline. Increased suburbanization since the 1940s, further cutting into preferred habitat, has amplified these problems. (BNA 262: 1, 6-7, 21-22)
Local history
Eaton (1910) listed this as a fairly common summer resident in Monroe County, but local in Wayne and Livingston. (Eaton I: county charts) R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated average counts of one to two birds, with a maximum count of 15, on dates ranging from 26 March to 3 November. But even in 1929, though it could be found in brushy woodlands around Rochester, it was not common, Horsey and Edson noted. (“Purple Martin, Barn Swallow Arrive to Greet Red Wings,” D&C, 29 April 1929)“The towhee, up to about 30 years ago, nested on the then wild slopes north and east of the Pinetum ridge in Highland Park,” Edson reported in 1950. “But, as the shrubbery gradually died out and erosion washed away the natural ground cover, leaving bare ground, the towhees departed for more suitable nesting areas. Now they are finding conditions to their liking on the Colgate-Rochester Divinity School grounds. We certainly hope the grounds funds do not increase so unduly as to induce the grounds authority to organize a leaf raking program to remove the soil retaining duff which protects these steep slopes from destructive erosion.” (WBR, 5 June 1950) When Leo Tanghe examined 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members from 1951-1954, this species was reported only 174 times, with nearly half the sightings (80) during the first three weeks in May. A single report during the first half of December and during the first half of February. An average count of 10-20 during the first half of July. (KB 5: 69: 7A-7B)Tanghe in 1953 considered this an uncommon nesting species in the Rochester area, specifically listing the Burroughs-Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary and Bergen Swamp as nesting locations. (GOS, May/August 1953)  Howard Miller in 1960 indicated it was “scarce as a summer resident along the lake in our area but is fairly common farther inland.” (KB10:61) Believed increasing in 1970 where abandoned farmland returned to brush. (KB 20:189) Even in 1977, however, this species was reported “very low on the lakeplain” though “good elsewhere.” (KB27: 153) Another problem for this species: excess deer eating the low, thick vegetation that towhees need. (Levine, p. 503)
Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, fairly common summer resident and an irregular, rare winter visitant.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this an irregular rare winter visitant, a (presumably regular fairly common) spring and fall transient, and a regular fairly common summer resident.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 15 March (1973) to 9 May, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 4 to 20 April. Subsequently, one on 5 March 1999 (J. Tetlow) at Perinton was even earlier. (LG, May 1999)
Spring maxima: 35 on 28 April 1956 (Listman) at the Hawk Lookout at Manitou. (GOS, January/June 1956) 25 on 30 April 1960 (Listman) at Manitou. (KB 10:61) 25 on 27 April 1997 (Fox) at Livingston County Park. (Fox, p. 90) Summer/breeding status: The Breeding Bird Atlas projects indicate this species is well represented in the southern half of the region, present in many blocks in Wayne County and along the west lakeshore, but absent from many parts of Monroe County where suburban sprawl has presumably removed its preferred habitat.

    Summer maxima:    25 on 15 July 1953 (Tanghes) at Canadice. (GOS, September/October 1953)     26 on 23 July 1954 (O’Hara, Van Beurden) at LeRoy. (GOS, May/August 1954)     Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of departure dates from 3 October to 19 November (1982), with a mid range, or “normal departure time” of 15 to 25 October. However, numerous winter records as well.
      Fall maxima:      10 on 16 September 1955 (H. Dakin) at Bushnells Basin. (GOS, April-December 1955)
Winter: It is not unusual to find at least one or two wintering somewhere in our region. For example, one on 3 January 1953 (Listman, Van Beurden) was at Long Pond woods (GNR); and four were reported during the winter of 1959-1960 and its record snowfall. (KB10:25) At least 10 were reported in our area during the winter of 1972-73. (KB23: 90) Region 2 Kingbird reports mention January or early February sightings of this species in at least 14 of 30 years from 1976 to 2005.

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