{"id":1001462,"date":"2008-10-03T10:48:15","date_gmt":"2008-10-03T15:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elharo.com\/blog\/?p=1001462"},"modified":"2008-10-03T10:48:15","modified_gmt":"2008-10-03T15:48:15","slug":"443-lark-sparrow-at-irvine-regional-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elharo.com\/blog\/birding\/2008\/10\/03\/443-lark-sparrow-at-irvine-regional-park\/","title":{"rendered":"#443 Lark Sparrow at Irvine Regional Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday Neil Gilbert<\/a> posted about a Chestnut-sided Warbler on the Orange County Birds mailing list:<\/p>\n

I got October off to a good start with a very nice hatch-year CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER at Irvine Regional Park in Orange. I saw it near the entrance to the park. It was hanging out with an enormous flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Western Bluebirds, House Finches, and Lark Sparrows. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now Chestnut-sided Warblers are actually reasonably frequent in migration in New York City parks, so this wasn’t a target bird for me. However the Lark Sparrows he mentioned almost in passing are not a common East Coast bird, and I’d never seen one, so Wednesday afternoon after work I hopped in the Prius and headed up Jamboree to Irvine regional Park. I got there about 6:00 and found his flocks of robins, bluebirds, and warblers. There were also lots of House Finches. However I did not find either the Chestnut-sided Warbler or the Lark Sparrows. :-(<\/p>\n

Sometimes you have to keep trying though, so the next morning I made a 15-mile detour on the way to work and stopped in the park around 9:00 A.M. This time the flocks of Robins and Bluebirds had vanished, though there were more than usual numbers of Anna’s Hummingbirds. I drove around Sycamore Hill and as I was coming back to the entrance I heard an unusual call I didn’t recognize so I parked and hopped out. <\/p>\n

I never did figure out what the call was, but by the baseball backstop I found four Lark Sparrows:<\/p>\n

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As sparrows go, Lark Sparrows quite distinctive with bold facial patterns unlike any other North American bird, and an unstreaked breast with one central spot. They look a little like a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak in non-breeding plumage, but not really like any of the local birds so they’re really easy to ID once you find them. <\/p>\n

I wandered around a bit, but I had to get to work so I didn’t spend long. Total species count was 11 in 20 minutes:<\/p>\n