Lark Sparrow in Devens... again? 12/15 - 01/26

On December 15th, over a month ago, I stepped outside of the building where I work in Devens, to a bunch of weird chip notes I didn't recognize. I spotted the bird making the racket; a large sparrow with a black dot in the center of its unstreaked breast. I immediately thought American Tree Sparrow, but it seemed off. Then the bird flew to a nearby tree and I got a flash of white on the edges of its tail. Lark Sparrow! I walked up to the tree for a closer look at the face only to watch the bird take off North West. Completely Gone. My coworker, Ray, was with me at the time and agreed it was a Lark Sparrow, but I decided not to do anything with the sighting. There just wasn't enough evidence to confirm the sighting and I never got a look at the facial pattern since I was looking up at it. Although I had the very cooperative Lark Sparrow at the Berard's feeder in 2008, it was still a big disappointment. They call me the big dipper.

Today (01/26) while checking feeders around Devens, I spotted a definite Lark Sparrow feeding on the ground with juncos! This is about 1.4 miles away from the original sighting (this is a Worcester County Bird). Could it be the same bird? Luckily, I had my camera this time:

I first took some quick photos just in case it decided to take off.

I walked closer for some great looks.

 

 

Hopefully I'll get to speak to the landowner soon and they'll allow their address to be available to other birders.