#native sparrows

Today, some fun new visitors came by, more native Sparrows. Three American Tree Sparrows, which look a lot like Chipping Sparrows but have a distinct dot on the chest and a two-colored beak, and again the White-Throated Sparrows. It remains cold, I hope to see the Fox Sparrow again too.

Jerry Oldenettel photographer

It's World Sparrow Day, and what a nice chance to show this guy again, a favorite from this winter - the Fox Sparrow! I love it when the native Sparrows pop up, they are always a surprise because they barely ever visit feeders. Spring is a good time to look out for them and learn how to ID them, they are migrating.

A fun new visitor today - this handsome bird is a Fox Sparrow. He spent a lot of time feeding on the ground, and I also saw him in person - he was not shy at all! And a lot bigger than I anticipated, about the size of a Cardi but chunkier. This species apparently comes in four variations, and this is the Red Fox Sparrow. He was one of the last ones on camera today, so I hope he sticks around for a bit.

A very welcome visitor that I only get to see during migration times - the White-throated Sparrow, one of the native sparrow species of America. There are several passing through in spring and fall, and I always love watching them. They scratch the floor for food just like the Juncos.

The White-throated Sparrows have been here for a bit but today, a White-crowned also joined the yard. These are tough names to say for a non-native speaker 😆 I love the native sparrows, and the White-crowned is one of my favorites, they look pretty, for lack of a better term. A gentle beauty somehow. Special "Chimera" RWBB is also still hanging around.

The White-throated Sparrows have returned, and there are at least two. Males and females look alike but there are two different morphs. The first one here is the white-striped morph, the second one with the Cardinal is a tan-striped morph. Interestingly, they usually mate with one another to maintain genetic diversity and balance out behaviors across their population. Very cool birds!

I decided to add a camera to this tree again to see if the Flying Squirrel brigade is still around but so far to no avail. The birds are slowly finding it though, and today, a White-throated sparrow even got close! This is a fun time, I have to rethink cam postitions to try and get the fun visitors that are passing through and deal with less sunshine and changing sun positions for the solar panels on the cameras.