Forwarding this for John Lennon. This is the lark sparrow found by the
OSU ornithology class field trip recently; the location is not far from
the spot where Bell's vireos nested the last couple years, but not yet
this year, as far as I know...
Bill Whan
Columbus

I found the lark sparrow on west campus this morning about 9:30, but it took
some searching.

If you enter the west campus farm from Kenney Rd, you should take the first
turn to the right past the Honeybee Research station.  Shortly after that,
there is a fork in the road and you want to go to the left. This lane
meanders through a "turf" research area, and if you go past that, you
eventually wind up at a small grass and gravel parking area.  If you are
parked in heading east, there is an immature corn field to your left - corn
is only about two inches high, so it causes no problems.  That's where the
bird was.  I scanned all the fields with a scope and binocs, with no luck.
But when I walked around the corn fields on the grass edges, it was flushed
out.  I was looking for something much brighter, like you see on fences out
west, but this bird was much more subdued - not in full breeding plumage, I
suppose.  The fields are full of robins and it would be easy to scan right
by this lark sparrow, writing it off as a robin if its back were to you.
There were also indigo buntings along the tree line.
John Lennon.

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