Rare Henslow's Sparrow in Duval County Florida - 11/4/14

Recently I took a trip to Jacksonville, FL and had part of a day to go birding. While in J'Ville, and if you only have one place to go, it's a no-brainer to head on over to Huguenot Memorial Park. Huguenot is a City Park that is situated on the north side of the St. Johns River, where it spills out into the Atlantic Ocean.

There is over a mile of beach, huge rock jetties that stretch way out into the ocean, and a huge tidal flats behind the dunes. The Fort George River also reaches the Atlantic here and its inlet is the northern boundary of Huguenot. All this adds up to one of the best places to bird in all of Florida. Many mega-rarities have been recorded here including Bar-tailed Godwit, Greater Sand-Plover, Snow Bunting, Lapland Longspur, Snowy Owl, Long-tailed Duck, South Polar Skua, Long-tailed Jaeger, Brown Noddy, and many many more!

When I pulled up to a picnic shelter to park a sparrow jumped up onto a weed stalk. It was really windy, but it just stayed there forever. At first I thought it was an odd Savannah sparrow, but I wasn't sure. I grabbed my camera and fired off about 50 pics before it flew down into thick grass.

A couple days later I had a long layover in Atlanta and decided to take a look at the pics. I was stunned to find myself looking at a Henslow's Sparrow! I had seen this species wintering in western Duval County in wet grasses, but never at the beach.