Early in the morning on October 24th a post came across the Blue Ridge Birders text group that a Nelson’s Sparrow was found at Warren Wilson College (WWC), complete with an excellent photo. WWC is well-known in fall for its sparrows in a wet grassy ditch in the middle of their agricultural fields. It’s a perfect spot for Nelson’s Sparrows and I was lucky enough to hear a singing Nelson’s there back in October 2025. So, since I didn’t need Nelson’s Sparrow as a state or county bird, I didn’t chase after today’s find.
But then mid-afternoon on the 24th came a text simply saying
“LeConte at WWC too?”. Attached was a
“no-doubt” photo of a LeConte’s Sparrow.
That’s one I not only needed for my Buncombe County list but also for my
NC state list. Certainly, one to chase
after, but I couldn’t get out that afternoon to give it a try. Hopefully it would stick around till the next
morning.
I arrived at WWC at sunrise on the morning of the 25th and
there were already a number of birder’s cars at the designated parking
location. Within a couple minutes I was
at the sparrow ditch, and walked up to the birders. The LeConte’s was just seen a few minutes
before my arrival. So it was still
around, though I wished I had gotten there just a few minutes earlier. The next couple minutes seemed like hours as
I peered low into the vegetation hoping to see some movement. Then someone called that they had re-found it
just a few feet away. I first got some
pretty miserable looks as only tiny portions of the bird were visible in the
low grasses. Then finally the bird
popped into the open no more than 10 feet away, though still no more than
knee-high. I was standing next to
birding friend Aaron Guillotte at the time, and he got these excellent shots of
the LeConte’s Sparrow.
We stayed with the LeConte’s for several more minutes, as it acted like a typical LeConte’s. It would disappear into the low grasses, just a few feet away. Then we’d notice some movement of the grasses as the bird moved like a mouse through the vegetation. Eventually the LeConte’s would pop into the open, though typically only briefly before dropping back into the grass to disappear once again.
This experience reminded me of the time I saw a stakeout
LeConte’s in Massachusetts in February 2013.
This is from my blog post summarizing that observation:
“A rare LeConte’s Sparrow was found feeding on a cleared
shoulder of a small suburban road in Concord, MA. The bird was reported to be very tame, and was
easily found by everyone that posted. I
arrived at the spot and saw 6 birders standing along the roadside – with
binoculars and monster lenses apparently trained on the bird. Amazingly – they were practically looking
down at their feet. I walked up and
realized the bird was no more than 5 feet away from me, crawling mouse-like
under grasses on the road shoulder that couldn’t have been more than 2 inches
high. After a few seconds I noticed
movement in the grasses, and I got amazing views of the head and back of the
bird. What a gorgeous little bird!”
Now back to WWC – After getting multiple views of the Le
Conte’s, I mentioned to Aaron that I wanted to try for the Nelson’s. I didn’t realize that Aaron had discovered
that bird the previous day (Congrats Aaron!), and he offered to take me to the
spot where he had had it. Within a couple minutes we were back where Aaron had
it on the 24th, and found a couple birders pointing into the vegetation. A few seconds later we had the Nelson’s
Sparrow.
I ended up with 9 species of sparrows that morning at WWC –
10 if Towhee counts as a sparrow.
LeConte’s Sparrow was number 334 for my NC list. My statebird map for this species is inserted
below. The light blue-shaded states are
those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range – as a breeder in the
upper Midwest, migrant in Kansas and Oklahoma, and a wintering bird in Texas
and Louisiana. The cross-hatched states
are those where I’ve yet to see LeConte’s in its normal range. Finally, the four dark-blue shaded states are
those where I’ve seen LeConte’s Sparrow as a rarity – Wyoming (where I found
and photographed the 3rd state record), Maine, Massachusetts, and now North
Carolina.
