Jeffrey A. Gordon

I was out walking the dog around 9:30 AM this morning when I got a phone call from Forrest Rowland, who is once again scanning the skies over the Cape Henlopen Hawk Watch. He said that he had heard from Derek Stoner that the Delmarva Ornithological Society group Derek was leading on their annual Cape May field trip had already seen two Lark Sparrows. Forrest said he was seeing and hearing lots of passerines around him and gently but firmly suggested that if I didn’t have anything too pressing, I get my butt over to Cape Henlopen (just 11 miles across the bay from Cape May) and look for Lark Sparrows or other rare or scarce species that might be present. Forrest, being largely pinned to the hawk platform, is in the sometimes frustrating position of just knowing that there are interesting non-raptor birds around, but being unable to venture even a few hundred yards away due to the need to keep up the hawk vigil.

It took me a while to get the dog home, gear up, pick up Liz, etc. But about 2 hours later, we rolled into the park, pulled into the Fort Miles area and in less than ten minutes, we were looking at a Lark Sparrow!

It might have taken even taken less time, had we not paused to admire a lovely male Cape May Warbler, plus a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. It also took just a little sifting through a good sized flock of Chipping Sparrows (perhaps 50), with a few Field Sparrows mixed in, for us to find our quarry.

Within minutes, Forrest, who had taken a brief sabbatical from the hawk watch, and Frank Rohrbacher, secretary of the Delaware Bird Records Committee, had both arrived. It’s a measure of how infrequently this species has been detected in Delaware that this was a state bird for Frank, who is locked in a neck and neck battle with Colin Campbell for the top spot among those who carefully tend their Delaware state lists.

A rear view of the bird on the same perch. Notice the long tail tipped and edged in white, the striped back, and how much duller the crown striping is toward the rear of the head than it is on the forecrown.

Forrest soon returned to his post. Frank, Liz, and I worked our way around the Ft. Miles area, encountering the Lark Sparrow (or Lark Sparrows–at one point we were nearly convinced there were two, but couldn’t be sure) at least three times. Below, it feeds on a concrete pad which anchors a large gun. Fort Miles is a fort, after all. On the left is a Chipping Sparrow, providing a nice shape comparison.

They’re both long-tailed, but that’s about it for similarities. Not only is the Lark’s body bigger, look at the difference in the legs–the Lark looks like Foghorn Leghorn. It’s also got a huge bill, but the Chipping isn’t obliging us with a direct comparison.

Below is a map of the Fort Miles area, with 3 dots where we saw the bird. You can click on the photo to see a larger view, or even download a copy. Of course, Lark Sparrows are famous for not sticking around too long, a major reason Frank hadn’t seen one in Delaware before. But this spot is consistently one of the best along Delaware’s oceanfront for sparrows, and warrants checking throughout the fall migration. Bound to be a few Clay-coloreds in there from time to time, as well as other goodies.

Hey, whaddya know? A blog post. Holy cow!

Tags: capehenlopen, forrestrowland, frankrohrbacher, lizzie, sparrows

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