Ipswich Sparrow (Passerculus princeps)
Large sparrow, gray above, white below Breast and sides have dull brown markings Upper parts more heavily streaked
The Ipswich Sparrow is an occasional visitor to Ipswich. It was isolated years ago on desolate Sable Island off the coast of Nova Scotia. It breeds only on Sable Island, but its winter migrations cause it to wander along the Atlantic Coast. It was first reported in 1868 from the dunes on Castle Hill, hence its name Ipswich Sparrow. When observed, this bird is most often found among the debris left at high tide on the upper beach. It is quick to fly when disturbed and, upon landing, will run for several yards to lose itself in the Beach Grass.
FOR A WIDER ACQUAINTANCE AMONG THE BIRDS
It is obvious that this chapter serves only to introduce you to the great variety of bird life awaiting the interested naturalist. To continue your study, consider the purchase of a good binocular and one or all of the books listed below.
Field List: Birds of Essex County, Massachusetts. Salem, Mass.: Peabody Museum, 1952. $.35 Edward Howe Forbush, Natural History of the Birds of Eastern and Central North America. Revised and abridged by John B. May. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1939. $7.50 Roger Tory Peterson, How to Know the Birds. New York: New American Library, 1949. $.50 ——, A Field Guide to the Birds. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1947. $3.95 Charles Wendell Townsend, The Birds of Essex County, Massachusetts. Memoirs of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, No. 3. Cambridge, Mass.: Nuttall Ornithological Club, 1905. Available in Museum of Science Library. ——, Supplement to The Birds of Essex County, Massachusetts. Memoirs of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, No. 5. Cambridge, Mass.: Nuttall Ornithological Club, 1920. Available in Museum of Science Library. George J. Wallace, An Introduction to Ornithology. New York: Macmillan, 1955. $8.00
[COMMON BIRDS OF CASTLE NECK]
Here are sixty of the most common birds you can expect to find at Castle Neck:
Green Heron Black-crowned Night Heron Black Duck Red-shouldered Hawk Marsh Hawk Sparrow Hawk Ruffed Grouse Ring-necked Pheasant Piping Plover Semipalmated Plover Killdeer Black-bellied Plover Spotted Sandpiper Greater Yellowlegs Semipalmated Sandpiper Sanderling Common Tern Mourning Dove Screech Owl Great Horned Owl Chimney Swift Ruby-throated Hummingbird Kingfisher Flicker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Kingbird Phoebe Tree Swallow Barn Swallow Bluejay White-breasted Nuthatch House Wren Catbird Brown Thrasher Robin Bluebird Cedar Waxwing Starling Red-eyed Vireo Black-and-White Warbler Yellow Warbler Myrtle Warbler Yellowthroat Blackburnian Warbler American Redstart House Sparrow Bobolink Meadowlark Redwinged Blackbird Baltimore Oriole Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Purple Finch American Goldfinch Rufous-sided Towhee Savannah Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Swamp Sparrow Song Sparrow