With the windows open I heard them before I stopped the car. The field sparrows are back!
Field sparrows leave western Pennsylvania for the winter so their arrival in early April is a welcome sign of spring. They don’t have far to come — just up the rivers from Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas — but when they arrive, they’re singing.
Field sparrows have a distinct song, a rising voice similar in cadence to a ping pong ball being forced down. The notes rise up the scale, bouncing faster and faster right up to the end.
I heard at least four “ping-pong balls” at Bald Knob Road yesterday. They were my first field sparrows of the year so I wanted to see them. It should have been easy. They were loud. Hah!
I figured they wouldn’t be perched up high — they’re “field” sparrows — but the bare trees were easy to check. I wasted my time looking at trees. Of course they weren’t there.
More intently, I scanned the shrubs for clear-breasted, long-tailed sparrows with gray faces, rusty heads, pink bills and beady black eyes. (Their eyes look beady because of the white eye-ring.)
I looked directly at the songs. I could not see the singers. This went on for about five minutes. I tried not to get frustrated.
Finally, one of them ended the suspense. He flew toward me, perched high on a shrub and belted out his song.
At last! I was having a field day.
(photo by Steve Gosser, taken in the summer after a hard rain; the bird is wet.)
Congratulations on your “field day”. Don’t think I’ve seen one prior other than the picture. But may have heard the calls without knowing who was there. Wonderful day. Enjoy the moments. Faith Cornell.
i had a similar experience 4/1 in monmouth county, nj. i went to some scrubby fields at daybreak and the field sparrows were—boom—so vocal. i also had a hard time sighting a bird. in fact i didn’t ever see one, but the song was unmistakable.
nice pic.
I will be looking for them in Allegheny County now that their markings have been so clearly described, and their song as well. Working out the differences between sparrows is pretty tricky, but your description and clear concise photo will make it easier. Thank you. By the way, that’s a piece of sweet clover he is perched on. It comes with either a white or yellow flower. White shown here. The sweet clover is usually about knee high, so you can see that even though he looks like he’s in a bush, the bird is less than 18 inches from the ground.
Hi Kate.
I stumbled upon your blog by accident, but I am so glad I did! Your narratives provide so much interesting information. I have a series of field sparrows on my photogblog and have become quite fond of them.