I went out looking for molting Bobolinks, but found a Sedge Wren instead…not a bad tradeoff!

Sunday evening found me at VOA park walking the clipped grass aisle of the high meadow. There was a cool chill in the air more reminiscent of September than the first of August, and as I shivered just a bit, I heard the chatty little song of a Sedge Wren just to the right of the grass path. I also heard two Henslow’s Sparrows in the same area, but I knew they were not popping up any time soon, so I stalked the Sedge Wren instead, narrowing in on him with each repetition of his little song. He would sing, and move…and sing and move, and suddenly, there he was! I fired off a few quick shots, but he had a very annoying habit of diving back down into the grass and perching near the base of the vegetation (bad little Sedgie!).

A very sweet bird, and a bit of a rarity around here.

The grassland habitat at VOA park brings in so

many birds lost to the never ending suburban sprawl.

Thank goodness little pockets of protected land exist

so we can get a glimpse of these cute birds.

This little guy is cute—no other word will do to describe his choppy, spritely little movements. Short bursts of flight always carried him to his next perch, where he would sing, peer here and there, and then dive back down in the grass to hide from the camera.

"Hmm...that stalk over there looks nice. I had

better head over and claim it. Then I'll dive back

into the grass to annoy the camera chick."

Little Sedgie hiding in the grass where he spent

most of his time. A perfect little grassland bird, he

completely melds with his environment.

Beak Bit
We are on the eastern-most range of this little bird. Sedge Wrens are also very nomadic, so they don’t always return to the same nesting grounds; therefore, we don’t always get to see them. So this little fellow is special. They can also be late nesters, so our singing male, may be setting up shop and advertising for a female. I hope so! I’ll keep returning to see if more Sedge Wrens have located in the high meadows at VOA. In the Great Plains, Sedge Wrens nest earlier, breeding in May or June. Jim McCormac, in his book “Birds of Ohio,” offers an explanation for our later-nesting birds, “It’s possible that there is a postbreeding dispersal of western birds to the east, where they nest again when midwestern habitats are more conducive to successful breeding.”

Click here for more information on the Sedge Wren, including his song.