After my sandwich break today while telecommuting from the Joliet Public Library’s Black Road Branch location, I took a postprandial stroll through the marsh at the Rock Run Forest Preserve, which is just to the west of the library.

Heard one of my favorite sounds of spring: the three-part call of the song sparrow, one of the most eloquent of North America’s songbirds. He might have an understated appearance, this little brown songster — but what a voice! Here’s some info on this aptly-named species, Melospiza melodia, from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, where you can hear the song yourself and learn more about its biology.

Better yet, get outside where some woods meets a lake, a river, or a clearing, and you’ll probably spot a song sparrow perched on a shrub or a small tree. Or, like me, hear it first.