Henslow’s Sparrows at Voice of America (VOA) Park in Mason, OH

A friend emailed me that he saw Henslow’s Sparrows singing at VOA Park in the High Meadow the other evening, so Rick and I headed over tonight. (I still have lots of photos to post from Hocking Hills, but this sighting was too important to wait.) While we were there, we heard at least five males singing and saw three. Unfortunately, my photos are terrible. It was getting dark, and I was shooting with an ISO of 1600 to 2000.

For better photos of the Henslow's Sparrows, click here for a newer post.

It took me two years of searching to

finally find this Henslow's Sparrow.

It was cold tonight while we were there. At only

66 degrees, it felt more like Autumn than summer!

The cold didn't seem to bother the Henslow's

Sparrows, as they seemed to come to life

as the temperature was dropping.

We arrived at the park around 7:45 p.m., and as soon as I got out of the car I saw several Bobolinks and started photographing them. As I was focused on a female Bobolink, I heard my first Henslow’s Sparrow’s song—a short little thing that is very distinctive. It’s been described as an insect-like hiccup, but I liked it. I followed him through the grass for a while. He was loath to fly and preferred instead skirting across the ground in deep cover while teasing me with his song! Large swaths of grass have been cut through the meadow to make it easy to walk around. I used part of this trail to follow the Henslow's Sparrows song. Rick opted to sit down instead and just listen. He heard one sparrow about 20 feet away and sat very still. Slowly the Henslow's Sparrow came closer and closer, but then he veered off. Rick was hoping one would hop up on a nearby tiny tree and sing his song, but he didn’t. As it got darker, the Henslow’s song started picking up. Soon I heard two…then three…and finally, one flew up and landed on a small snag. I got my first shot at 8:45. I quickly had to switch the ISO to 2000 as the light was fading fast. My camera does really well in low light, but even so, the photos are poor. Needless to say, this was a life bird for me.

You will probably hear a Henslow's Sparrow

long before you see it. As night drew near, their

singing picked up and they started flying from perch

to perch. The park closes at dark, so we couldn't stick

around to see if they continued to sing after dark.

I loved it when they started hopping up on

snags or plants to sing their very short song.

We saw three Henslow's Sparrows. Two

were pretty close to each other for a while,

but the third was at least 40 feet away.

We are so lucky to have this small breeding population of Henslow's Sparrows in our neighborhood. I hope the Voice of America Park can continue to provide the proper habitat for our summer grassland birds. Click here for an article on the Ohio Ornithological Society’s site that talks about the summer breeding birds and their grassland habitat at VOA Park.