Henslow's Sparrows

Henslow’s Sparrows returned to Blue Jay Barrens about three weeks ago, and they are still sorting out their territories.  Territory boundaries have not been a problem before because we’ve never had more than two singing males here at any one time.  This year there are at least three males vying for the best spots in the field.

The first Henslow’s Sparrow showed up in this 11 acre field about 15 years ago.  At that time only about half of the field had been colonized by Indian Grass.  The rest of the field was either Canada Goldenrod or cool season grasses.  It was about eight years later that Indian Grass came to dominate the entire field.  Soon after that, a second Henslow’s Sparrow arrived with the spring migration.  The two males took up positions at opposite ends of the long field and left each other in peace.  With three males, there have been some border squabbles.  Two males perch close to each other and fire calls back and forth like a fast paced ping pong match.  I inadvertently walked up on one of these skirmishes and flushed five sparrows from the grass.  All five took short flights and dove into the tall grass.  Five males?  Two males and three females?  Two singing Henslow’s and three Field Sparrow spectators?  They moved too fast for me focus, so I’m not sure of the group’s composition.

The singing males have been perching about half way up the dead Indian Grass stalks, so it’s been difficult to see them, let along take any photographs.  Today, a Henslow’s Sparrow was calling from a position about 50 feet behind my vegetable garden.  I could see him, but he was partially obscured by Indian Grass stalks blowing in the breeze. 

Then he shifted his position by a few feet and became more visible.  I managed to get one shot before he moved off to the north.

Seconds later, another male flew in from the south.  This bird was slightly closer and a little more exposed than the first.  I’m not sure what he was doing in this shot, since he didn't actually sing at this point.  Possibly he was just limbering up in preparation for singing.

He sang and sang and sang.  This is the area where I witnessed territorial battles.  Maybe the birds have worked out their differences and were just out to remind each other of the location of their agreed upon border line.

Here is a short video of a singing Henslow’s Sparrow.  I managed to keep the bird in frame, but I was leaning sideways to see around a clump of grass and the image bobs a bit.  If that bothers you, close your eyes and just listen to the song.  You can view a possibly clearer version of this video on YouTube by clicking HERE .

Vegetable Garden Distractions

I’ve been interested in vegetable gardening for most of my life and have had some type of garden every year since I was eight years old.  Maintaining a vegetable garden is an activity that my wife says makes me appear more normal in the eyes of the general public.  It gives me a second topic besides the weather of which I have an interest and which I might discuss with others while creating idle conversation at social events.  I’ve learned that most people can only stand a few minutes of weather talk and generally have no interest in my thoughts about managing land for native ecosystems.  Talking about gardening gives me something to do besides reading a book or standing alone glaring at anyone who comes near.  This pleases my wife and gives the illusion that I’m having a good time.

My garden is located in the lower portion of a field drain where eroded soil was trapped behind an elevated farm lane.  This was the only place I could find with soil deep enough to securely anchor fence posts.  People sometimes question why I carved my garden out of a nice prairie field.  In this situation there was no prairie when I created the garden.  At that time, the field was all oat stubble, remnants of the last grain crop to be grown there.  The garden was long established by the time the prairie came in.

The garden is maintained in raised beds.  Through the summer I fill the trenches between beds with whatever organic matter I have at hand, mostly mower clippings.  Each fall I till the trenches and scoop the half composted organic matter to the top of the beds.  Worms and other organisms work on the organic matter over the winter and the beds are ready to receive seed in the spring.  Onions, peas and potatoes are currently growing.  Row cover was placed over the peas to protect them from some predicted cold temperatures.  They made it through a couple of 20 degree nights with no damage.

But there are other things going on in the garden that easily take my attention away from the vegetables.  Several native prairie species are grown here for seed production.  The natives are not as well behaved as the vegetables.  These Prairie Dock will not stay confined to a bed and are continually increasing their territory.

The organic mix atop the beds seems ideal for germination of Prairie Dock seed.  I’ve decided to limit the Prairie Dock to one bed and they’ve just about taken that.

Clumps of False Gromwell last for three to five years before dieing.  In that time they produce huge quantities of seed.  Some of that seed manages to germinate and initiate growth of another clump.  False Gromwell are always in the garden, but their location is constantly changing.

Butterflyweed has claimed a three by three foot section at the end of one bed.  It came in as a volunteer and I let it stay.  That was about fifteen years ago.  Since then it has attracted swarms of interesting insects to the garden.  For the past three years it has hosted the caterpillars of the Unexpected Tiger Moth, an Ohio rarity.  The garden keeps losing ground to natives, but there’s still plenty of space for vegetables.

The cedar fence posts around the garden continue to expand their collection of interesting lichens.  It doesn’t take much for the lichens to distract me from my gardening chores.  I have yet to take the time for any serious lichen studies, but when I get around to it, there should be plenty of lichens here to get me started.

I am serenaded constantly while in the garden.  This Song Sparrow nests in an ornamental juniper that is kept in the garden just because birds nest in it.  It was planted there as a seedling 28 years ago along with several others that were intended for landscaping in front of the house, but it was not used.  Instead of getting rid of it, I left it there in case one of the junipers in the yard failed to grow.  By the time it became obvious that it wasn’t needed for landscaping, it had become a favorite nesting site of Song Sparrows, Catbirds and Cardinals.

Although not as melodious as the Song Sparrow, Henslow’s Sparrows call out their territorial warnings from perches in the tall Indian Grass surrounding the garden.  Since these birds return here every year and I hear them calling well into summer, I’m assuming that they are nesting.  It’s hard enough to see these birds in the field.  It would just be dumb luck if I ever encountered one of their nests.

A Burrowing Wolf Spider has claimed a territory near the Butterflyweed.  The burrow should be safe from disturbance in this location, so I will have time to coax the spider out for some photographs.

While on my knees looking at the spider hole, I glanced beneath the Song Sparrow’s juniper and saw this garter snake.  I think the garden is an appropriate place for this snake since, as a kid, I used to think their proper name was Gardener Snake.  This one kept doing strange gyrations with its tongue as though trying to convey a message in snake semaphore.  Maybe the message came through, because I suddenly thought of something I should be doing.  That’s how most of my garden forays progress; distracted by the native plants, distracted by the birds, distracted by the bugs and gone.

Henslow's Sparrow

For several years a Henslow’s Sparrow has claimed territory in the field behind the vegetable garden.  The distinct song of the Henslow’s makes it easy to detect the presence of this uncommon bird.  Unfortunately, the ease of hearing this sparrow is more than offset by the difficulty in seeing one. 

You’re liable to hear the male Henslow’s Sparrow singing away day or night.  The location of the performance is usually on a perch low to the ground, so the bird is hidden from sight among all of the tall grass.  Add on the fact that the direction of the song seems to change even though the bird doesn’t move and you have the makings for a frustrating search.

It’s hard to move stealthily through a field of dead Indian Grass stalks.  Even when rain muffles the sound of the rustling grass, there’s still a lot of grass movement as you pass through. 

I usually don’t spot the sparrow until it takes off to hide deep in the grass.  At last I had a bit of luck and spotted the Henslow’s Sparrow singing from a perch in a small tree. 

My first recognizable shot of a Henslow’s Sparrow.  It’s a shame that such a lovely bird hides itself so well.  This isn’t an award winning shot, but think you should always leave yourself a little room for improvement.