Nature’s Sweetest Soundtrack

Sparrows have an image problem. Non-birders pay little heed to these small, brown birds. Even many birders largely ignore them, in favour of labelling them dismissively as LBJ’s (little brown jobs). Pity.

If nothing else, Headwaters sparrows contribute greatly to the ambience of our hills with their emotive songs. Unless you have compromised hearing, you’ve been serenaded by these birds. I’ll introduce four species in this blog – and if you click on their name, you can listen to recordings of their birdsong.  

The most common of the four are song sparrows, along with American robins, true harbingers of spring. Song sparrows return to Headwaters in late winter and then sing non-stop. Shrubby areas like roadsides and old fields host large numbers of these boldly marked sparrows. 

Less common are vesper sparrows, birds I’ve had difficulty finding here, though I’ve encountered them along Headwaters rail trails. Vesper sparrows are drawn to cropland, where they nest on the ground. The males, though, like to sing from the tops of trees and utility poles. 

It’s a good bet that not many of us know savannah sparrows. However, we likely hear this species more than any other as we walk, cycle or drive through open countryside. Males sing incessantly from fence posts spring to summer. Like the other sparrows they are subtly beautiful – worth a long look through a pair of binoculars.

Grasshopper sparrows, unlike the others, are weak singers – in fact they are likely named for their insect-like calls. These tiny sparrows also inhabit open country but are uncommon in Headwaters. Even if you have good hearing, their voices are easy to miss. A few nest at Forks of the Credit Provincial Park each year, where a careful search of dry shortgrass habitat might reveal them.   

Our sparrows deserve more notice. They are prominent actors in the ecology of our fields and meadows, and they contribute to the pastoral soundscape that defines our hills in spring and summer.