Known to be in this area. Grasslands with scattered mesquite and chaparral. Plain, nondescript, large sparrow with long rounded tail showing small white tips on the outer rectrices. Observed “skylarking” flight song display by one male.

Woot woot serendipity! We parked at the observatory picnic area and were hiking up the road to the culvert area when Gretchen heard and spotted some gnatcatchers off to the side. Not quite at the historical site but I figured it was wise to check. Black cap but white underside to the tail: it was a black-capped male, in our first 5 minutes! I then scrambled up a little to get some better photos, which paid off in these nice pics but did take a toll: I fell and hurt my shoulder coming back down. :-/ I also have some audio of it calling, along with a blue-gray in the area, and we later saw a pair of black-taileds just a little further down canyon.

Thankfully were then able to help another birder (Adam) find them, and directed another long time searcher to our hotspot so he could hopefully find his white whale.