Date:         Thu, 22 Apr 1999 18:56:49 EDT
Reply-To:     RickLWest@aol.com
Sender:       Georgia Birders Online <GABO-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From:         Rick West <RickLWest@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Bachman's Sparrow near Atlanta
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Dear GABO-Ls
 
   I have a question for the Atlanta-Athens crowd.  How common are Bachman's
Sparrows out your way.  I located one a little north of Social Circle, Walton
County.  I found it first on April 4, at the end of a morning Woodcock run,
and assumed it was just a misplaced migrant, but it was still there when I
went by to check on it yesterday.
   So how common are these birds up near you?  Did I run across an
established breeding area?  Where is the closest known breeding site?  I
would appreciate hearing what the status of Bachman's Sparrow is in that part
of the state.
 
   For anyone who is a county lister, or just may want to check it out, the
directions are given below.
 
Rick West
 
   Go north out of Social Circle on GA 11 until you cross the RR tracks.
Turn almost immediately diagonal right by power station onto Social Circle
Fairplay Road.  Continue on this road 2-3 miles, crossing Reedy Creek, to a
crossroad labled on left as Mount Parron Church Road and paved that way.
Turn right on unpaved road, cross 2 creeks and go to obvious top of hill
(more than a mile) to slightly wide place in road with broomsedge field on
left and a very few seedling pines in front of mixed woods on right (and some
trash).  Bird was right there both times, but I had to play a tape to get it
singing when I arrived the second time (almost noon) and then it sang
frequent song bouts for over an hour.  If road is bad after wet weather, the
site may be more easily approached from the opposite direction from Knox
Chapel Road, and is less than a half mile in, I think.  DeLorme 27, C10.  The
site is just west of Hard Labor Creek State Park.