A Cassin’s sparrow, the first ever reported in Suffolk County and only the second ever in New York State, has been obliging area birdwatchers since Sunday, when it was found off the parking lot at Montauk State Park by Max Epstein.
The bird is a vagrant from the Southwestern United States. Shai Mitra, an expert birder and assistant professor at the College of Staten Island, wrote in his eBird report that the finding is consistent with a broader pattern of birds from that region showing up in this area this year, “possibly related to the extreme drought there.”