15 sparrows, etc. HBSP to NW Ohio 5/10

[evelyn metcalf]

Hi all,
Saturday I had a lot of fun chasing sparrows, and incidentally got some 
warblers and peregrine and other fun stuff. I have never been much into 
"big days" (I rarely have a whole day to bird) but today I got the 
sparrow bug. I started the day at Headlands Beach State Park, Lake 
County, and ended up making an additional, spontaneous journey to Oak 
Openings and the far NW
corner of Ohio (thanks to my wife, Evelyn, who watched the kids all day 
as I played).

At Headlands Beach State Park, spent most of the morning birding with 
Ray Hannikman, and ran into Gabe Leidy. Gabe tipped Ray and I off to 
the presence Clay-colored sparrow at Headlands, and afterwords I found 
two CLAY-COLORED. I was able to get Ray on one of them. If Gabe's bird 
was a different individual from ours, which is very possible from his 
description of where his bird flew, we may have had up to three 
clay-colored at this locale on Saturday. After getting clay-colored, 
Ray came through with a very cooperative GRASSHOPPER Sparrow. Between 
Headlands, and a stop at Mentor Lagoons, I saw the following Emberizid 
sparrows:

E. Towhee - at least 5
Chipping Sparrow - 5 - 10
Clay-colored Sparrow - 2
Field Sparrow - 1
Savannah Sparrow - 5
Grasshopper Sparrow - 1
Song Sparrow - 12+
Lincoln's Sparrow - 15+ (very nice showing)
Swamp Sparrow - 3
White-throated Sparrow - 15+
White-crowned Sparrow - 25+

After Mentor Lagoons, which I left around 11:30 a.m., I began to plot a 
big sparrow day. The downpour had stopped and the weather was looking 
better.
With this in mind I swung by North Chagrin Reservation and found a 
territorial junco for sparrow (yes, they are sparrows) number 12.  Also 
picked up another Savannah sparrow, more field sparrows and chipping 
sparrows.

I quickly went home for lunch, and hit the road - destination, Oak 
Openings.

At Oak Openings I easily found one LARK SPARROW at the traditional site 
at the corner of Reed and Girdam Roads. I soaked in the bird for a 
couple of minutes and began the search for sparrow number 14 - vesper. 
Vesper sparrow is fairly common around NW Ohio but I had no particular 
place where I knew I could find one. Now, I got really lucky, because 
as I began my vesper search I ran into none other than Elliot Tramer. 
Elliot told me of a couple of possible sites and off I went, but not 
before asking about Henslow's Sparrow. Williams County Road "S" he told 
me.

Within about 20 minutes I had one, and then another VESPER SPARROW 
singing in two different corn stubble fields off of Whitehouse-Spencer 
and Obee Roads, SE of Oak Openings. Sparrow #14 was locked up. Now for 
the tough one. I knew of a site in Richland County where I could 
probably get Henslow's sparrow, but Williams County was a more 
reasonable drive at this point, and I was running out of daylight. I 
had never seen Henslow's in Williams County, but acted on Elliot 
Tramer's advice and headed west. I didn't realize that county road "S" 
was so darn long!  I stopped at at least a dozen sites that looked 
promising, hearing and seeing lots of Savannah Sparrows, Bobolinks, and 
hearing a Grasshopper Sparrow or two, but no Henslow's. Then, I ran out 
of state. I came to the Indiana border.  I turned around and headed 
back east, about a quarter mile or less back into Ohio I pulled off the 
road to try again - listening for the characteristic "Ti-slick" call of 
a Henslow's.

And there it was. "Ti-slick"...again and again. And not just one, but 
two HENSLOW'S SPARROWS , calling north of the road from what seemed to 
be close range. But, at this point just hearing the bird would not have 
satisfied. I needed to see one. I got out and walked partly into the 
field. After a few frustrating minutes I found one of the birds, 
perched upright on a dried weed stalk, proclaiming his domain as the 
sky turned golden. A perfect end to a fifteen sparrow day. Thanks to 
all the assists I got from other birders - Saturday was one of my 
favorite Ohio birding days. (Now, could sixteen be possible?) The 
peregrine, osprey, redstarts, chestnut-sided, Wilson's warblers, and 
black-throated blues were all nice too.

Kevin Metcalf
Chardon, OH