Lark Sparrow

BirdNote^®

Lark Sparrow – Not Just Another "Little Brown Bird"

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote.

[A few lines of The Who’s “Who Are You?”]

When it comes to identifying sparrows, we may be tempted to call them all “LBBs, little brown birds.” …. [from The Who:] – Who are you? Who, who, who, who? ... I really want to know! ...  Hey! Putting a name to a sparrow can be tough!

But anyone inclined to write off all sparrows as “little brown birds” should first take a look at a Lark Sparrow. [Lark Sparrow song]

Lark Sparrows are large, gorgeous, and unmistakable. Their faces are painted boldly in chestnut, white and black. Their long tails are tipped in white. Because of its beauty, a Lark Sparrow was chosen for the cover of a birding guide to all the sparrows and buntings of the world. [Lark Sparrow song]

Lark Sparrows nest throughout the West and Midwest, in grassy habitats with scattered shrubs, fields with brushy edges, and sagebrush. Today, with its numbers in decline, the species merits renewed attention and care. Why? Well, for one, to remind us just how beautiful a sparrow can be — and how distinctively one sparrow can sing….[Lark Sparrow song]

You’ll find a photograph of a Lark Sparrow on our website, birdnote.org

Today’s show brought to you by The Lufkin Family Foundation. For BirdNote, I’m Mary McCann.

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Selection from The Who’s Who Are You? Twentieth Century Masters album, 1999 Geffen Records
Song of the Lark Sparrow 106582 provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by R.S. Little.
BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2016 Tune In to Nature.org       March 2012/2016/2020       Narrator: Mary McCann

ID# SotB-LASP-01-2012-03-28 SotB-LASP-01   

http://birds.audubon.org/species/larspa - NAS on Lark Sparrow conservation status