Regarding the comment suggesting the Dickcissel sighting might be a hybrid I offer the following comments (rebuttal). I do this because it is the only ebird record in Nassau County and hence of special importance.

1) the picture posted on ebird 5/5/2020 shows a pure Dickcissel with no unusual plumage suggesting hybrid. I would say the photo shows a most average Dickcissell.

2) We heard it sing … Nothing unusual about the song…pure Dickcissel. One other birder also reported hearing it.

3) A hybrid Dickcissel has never been definitively seen (Pyle V I, page 623). So a hybrid would be super surprising…a world first…and given the photograph not a choice. There have been discussion of hybrids with Blue Grosbeaks. The famous Towsend’s Bunting of Audubo is now thought to be a schizochroistic Dickcissel (a mutation in which one pigment is missing…in this case yellow); and, the famous Pince Edward Point bird of 2014 is also believed by most to be a schizochroistic Dickcissel (once more lacking the yellow pigment). So in summary, although there has been speculation that a Dickcissel could hybridize with a Blue Grosbeak such a bird has never been recorded definitively.

3) The mention of cohabitation of Bobolinks was a part of the identification description. During migration Dickcissels are known to migrate with Bobolinks (Peter Dunne in Essential Field Guide Companion page 640).

Anyway photographic record is clear. This is important as it is the only sighting I am aware of in Nassau County.

I welcome any comments.

Hal