MA - 'Ipswich' Savannah Sparrow in Northampton - 01/07/16

'Ipswich' Savannah Sparrow (P.s. princeps) - East Meadows, Northampton, Hampshire Co., MA. January 7th, 2016.

Yesterday (01/07), after dealing with errands in Northampton, I headed over to the East Meadows. It was the first time in a few years that I've birded the area and initially it seemed completely devoid of birdlife. After a while I found a small flock of Horned Larks and settled down to enjoy them. At that point I thought that they may well be the 'only' birds of interest I was going to see in the frozen meadows. Close by, I noticed a couple of Savannah Sparrows foraging in a weedy, fallow strip. The birds caught my attention because I just don't see Savannah Sparrows in Franklin County in mid-winter. Teed up among them was a strikingly pale sparrow and I immediately thought of Ipswich Savannah Sparrow, a subspecies (P.s. princeps) of Savannah Sparrow typically associated with Atlantic coastal dunes and beaches in winter. Having seen pale Savannah Sparrows in the Pioneer Valley before I proceeded cautiously and tried for as much photo-documentation as I could within my time constraints. I would admit to finding the result pretty compelling, enough to actually put in a strong claim of an inland Ipswich Savannah Sparrow. The Birds of Massachusetts (Veit and Petersen) offers just one accepted inland record for the state - Great Meadows, October 1966 (Garrey, photo-documented), thus it's an exceedingly rare occurrence for deepest interior Massachusetts.

Other birds of interest in the meadows included, 110 Horned Lark, 85 Snow Bunting, 1 Lapland Longspur, 55 American Goldfinch and at least 16 Savannah Sparrows. In the end, a great morning after a slightly disappointing start.

 'Ipswich' Savannah Sparrow (P.s. princeps) - East Meadows, Northampton, Hampshire Co., MA. January 7th, 2016.

Rightmost bird with small flock of Savannah Sparrows. My first views of the subject bird.

 'Ipswich' Savannah Sparrow (P.s. princeps) - East Meadows, Northampton, Hampshire Co., MA. January 7th, 2016.

Rightmost bird with Savannah Sparrow. Overall pallid gray cast with light gray rump.

  'Ipswich' Savannah Sparrow (P.s. princeps) - East Meadows, Northampton, Hampshire Co., MA. January 7th, 2016.

Recalling Clay-colored Sparrow at times.

  'Ipswich' Savannah Sparrow (P.s. princeps) - East Meadows, Northampton, Hampshire Co., MA. January 7th, 2016.

Nice view of the fairly sparse reddish brown (not black) streaking along the flanks.

Savannah Sparrow - East Meadows, Northampton, Hampshire Co., MA. January 7th, 2016.
Compared to Ipswich Sparrow above much darker with stronger, blacker flank streaks and pale, whitish mantle 'braces'.