Sparrow of Clay on the Unintentional Big Day!

On Sunday morning, I was in Central Park by 7 am, and there was clearly some activity. I saw birds flying left and right as I made my way to Strawberry Field, but only identified a few, including a Winter Wren. The most impressive thing on the way there was the flight of flickers, which contained several dozen Northern Flickers all headed south. I then arrived at Strawberry Fields, where I saw the birds I wasn't looking for, which included Brown Creeper and a pair of Dark-Eyed Juncos, which seemed like omens of a migration day filled with later, less impressive migrants. However, as time went by, it changed for the better and warblers started to appear. In the end, I had about a dozen warbler species in Strawberry Fields alone. I then went through the Ramble for a bit, and then did a raptor watch at Belvedere Castle for a few hours with Ryan. Unfortunately, we failed to spot anything notable. We went back into the Ramble, and it wasn't long before we received word of a Vesper Sparrow near Nutter's Battery at the north end of the park. We decided to head up there, and we arrived in just over a half hour. We looked for the sparrow, along with a few other birders, and we also found several species of warblers there. As we were scanning at the bottom of the hill, we heard someone yell "Clay-Colored Sparrow!". Wait, what? Why would something rare like that show up as we were looking for a Vesper Sparrow? We got to the top of the hill within seconds, and after less than a minute, the bird appeared with a flock of Palm Warblers. It was like a Chipping Sparrow, but had many more shades of brown, beige, and gray than a Chipping Sparrow, as well as black lines all over the face, making this a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW(#158). Over the next 15 minutes, the bird gave great views in the flock, before flying off and disappearing for good. This species is very rare, only appearing once or twice a year in the park, if at all. Being in the right place at the right time was very good for me, giving me a life bird! I did not bird much after the sparrow, and ended the day with a whopping 73 species!