Lark Finch, Prairie Finch, Brown Song Sparrow

Many sparrows are challenging to identify, but this one is a striking exception, with its bold face pattern and broad, white-edged tail. Lark Sparrows favor areas with bare open ground and scattered bushes, habitats that are more common in the West and Midwest than in the East; they often forage conspicuously out in the open. When going from place to place, they tend to fly higher than most sparrows, giving a sharp callnote as they pass overhead.

On the western plains in early summer the male Lark Bunting is impossible to overlook, as it flutters up from the grass to deliver its varied flight song. In winter, when males and female alike are patterned in streaky brown, the species is more subtle. Winter flocks of Lark Buntings occur in dry open fields, where they suggest chunky, big-billed sparrows. When they fly, however, in compact flocks sweeping low over the ground, some of them will flash patches of white or buff in the wings.

Very widespread in North America, this melodious sparrow is among the most familiar birds in some areas, such as the Northeast and Midwest. At times it is rather skulking in behavior, hiding in the thickets, seen only when it flies from bush to bush with a typical pumping motion of its tail. Usually, however, sheer numbers make it conspicuous. Song Sparrows vary in appearance over their wide range, from large dark birds on the Aleutians to small pale ones in the desert Southwest.