Le Conte's Sparrow, Finally!

For the past three years, two Ammodramus sparrows have completely eluded me until this morning. Sparrows in general can be difficult to get good looks at. They often forage on or close to the ground and many of them seek cover in tall grass. Sparrows from the genus Ammodramus can be particularly challenging to see or photograph. Two years ago, I saw my first Ammodramus sparrow--a Grasshopper Sparrow at the Kenneth L. Schroeder Wildlife Sanctuary. Only a couple of weeks later, I saw my second Ammodramus sparrow--a Henslow's Sparrow at Evergreen Lake. Since that time, I have seen more Grasshopper and Henslow's Sparrows, but I have been unable to find any Le Conte's or Nelson's Sparrows or at least not any that were willing to sit up in the grass so that I could get a look. Over the past couple of years, I had been to Schroeder many times in October to look, but usually whenever I had the opportunity to go, it was windy and the sparrows would flush, but would not sit anywhere where they were visible. Also, I have wanted to go on Matt Fraker's famous Smith Longspur/Clinton Lake field trip in April because Le Conte's Sparrows are typically seen on that annual field trip, but it always falls on the weekend that I have to be at work for our biggest fundraiser of the year.

This year I decided I would search somewhere other than Schroeder for these birds. Saturday, Carrie and I searched a prairie at Moraine View State Park, where Carrie got her lifer Henslow's Sparrow and we found an unbelievable bird for Illinois--Say's Phoebe, but we saw no Nelson's or Le Conte's Sparrows. I heard Nelson's calling and even singing a couple of times, but it would not sit up for us.

Yesterday, I saw a photo on the Illinois Birders Forum Photo Pool, taken by Visu Nandakumar. It was a photo of a Le Conte's Sparrow and it had been taken on Saturday at the Sugar Grove Nature Center in Funks Grove, IL. Since Funks Grove is in the county and not too far of a drive, I decided to get up early this morning and drive there to look for a Le Conte's.

It was sunny and not windy this morning so it seemed to be a promising day. When I arrived, I immediately noticed it was a very birdy morning. There were warblers and kinglets in the trees by the parking lot. However, I made it to the prairie where I quickly noticed a good variety of sparrow species. I saw a Song, a Savannah, and a Field Sparrow, and there were Swamp Sparrows everywhere. I even saw a total of four Lincoln's Sparrows and was able to photograph a couple of them.





I even got psyched out by a Henslow's Sparrow that I at first thought was a Le Conte's.



As I was starting to wonder if I was going to miss Le Conte's yet again, I heard one calling along the black trail in the prairie North of the observatory, and it popped up! What a beautiful bird!





Although the little bird did not sit still for long, it offered great looks from several different perches.





This juvenile Le Conte's Sparrow was not nearly as cooperative.



After leaving Funks Grove, I stopped by the Gridley Wastewater Treatment Ponds before going on to work, where I found two American Pipits--my first two in McLean County for the year. These plain little sparrow-like birds are one of my favorite yearly treats.





And as for the Ammodramus nemeses--one down, and one to go!