desmond_macneals favoriter

Spotted first by Reagan Johnson. On shoreline of Marie Curtis Park in washed up beach debris. Skiddish and difficult to approach. Distant photo was a quick one to document with my phone. Subsequent photos were made with telephoto digital SLR. Very rare, unusually early record. Recent warm weather seems to have pushed this one north fast.
p.s. I've revised the initial identification following comments in another forum by Peter DeGennaro & Colin Jones and checking photos of each of the possible species. If verified, this may be the first Canadian record of this species.

This apparently represents the first confirmed/photographic record for Canada. I got only this one photo before it flew off and although I tried to follow it to get more, it could fly much faster than I could walk through the vegetation :-)

Wondering if this is A. hemiophrys but not sure what I'm looking for to distinguish between it and americanus- yes- it's wild. west side of the northern Sable Island on Lake of the Woods (this time of year there are thousands of toads (mostly babies) there so this one caught my eye for being different)

Clay-colored x Field Sparrow (hybrid) - cannot find in iNat.
See also this earlier observation of the same bird: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/86905201#activity_comment_9e092f4d-8ea8-467d-bc7c-138028244c51

©www.williamwisephoto.com Donnelley Wildlife Management Area; Colleton, South Carolina, USA.

• Sun and clouds with afternoon thunderstorms. High of 86 F.
• Sunrise 6:15 AM, Sunset 8:27 PM
• Day length: 14 hours, 12 minutes (+40s)
• Moon 19% Waning Crescent
• Journal: http://williamwisephoto.com/photographyblog/scarlet-snake-at-donnelley-wma

at nest site; as documented in the paper detailing the first nest records of the species in Ontario https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275023595_First_documented_nests_of_Hoary_Redpoll_in_Ontario