178 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 73 



Lincoln's Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii) 



Status: Regular migrant and possible summer resident. 



Migration: Uncommon spring and fairly common fall migrant throughout 

 the Valley, locally common in the Northern Highland. Spring migrants 

 arrive in the Western Upland 1-5 May and the Northern Highland 

 5-10 May. Peak spring migration through the Valley occurs 10-20 May and 

 departure 25 May to 1 June. Fall migration begins in the Northern Highland 

 about 15 August with the first arrivals in the Western Upland 

 20-25 August. Peak fall migration occurs 15 September to 10 October and 

 departure by 15-20 October (latest— 28 October 1963, St. Croix County). 



Nesting Season Distribution: S. D. Robbins (personal communication) re- 

 corded single Lincoln's sparrows along the route of the Minong BBS 

 (Douglas County) on 16 June 1971 and 27 June 1975. On 26 June 1974 Rob- 

 bins recorded one in an open bog about 6.4 km north of Moose Junction, 

 Douglas County. 



Habitat: Migrant Lincoln's sparrows are usually associated with brushy 

 edge habitats. Old Field Community, retired agricultural fields, and orna- 

 mental shrubbery in residential areas are important among these. In the 

 Northern Highland, this sparrow is regularly encountered in wet coniferous 

 habitats, brushy borders of Northern Sedge Meadow, and in Alder Thickets. 



Swamp Sparrow [Melospiza georgiana) 



Status: Regular migrant and nesting species, one winter record. 



Migration: Common migrant throughout the Valley. Spring migrants arrive 

 in the Western Upland 25 March to 5 April and the Northern Highland 

 15-20 April. Peak spring migration through the Valley occurs 20 April to 

 5 May. Peak fall migration occurs 15 September to 10 October and de- 

 parture by 20 October. 



Nesting Season Distribution: Uncommon to fairly common nesting species 

 in the Central Plain and Northern Highland, locally in the Western Upland. 

 Jackson (1943) found the swamp sparrow "never particularly common" 

 during the 1919 nesting season. He found nests with young at St. Croix 

 Falls (Polk County) and Solon Springs (Douglas County). Breeding Bird 

 Survey data (Table 8) suggest that the swamp sparrow is more abundant 

 during the nesting season in the northern regions of the Central Plain and 

 throughout the Northern Highland. 



Winter: A single bird was observed in St. Croix County during the Afton 

 CBC on 1 January 1970. 



Habitat: Characteristic nesting species of Alder Thicket and Northern 

 Sedge Meadow habitats in northern regions. Also fairly regular in Black 

 Spruce-Tamarack Bogs and in open leatherleaf-Labrador tea bogs. In the 

 Central Plain, this sparrow breeds regularly in Shrub Carr habitat which is 

 dominated by heavy growths of gray dogwood and in cattail-bulrush vege- 



