10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 23, 2013

Sorting through flocks of fall sparrows is fun and can be rewarding. You never know what might be hiding amid the hordes of White-throated Sparrows , Dark-eyed Juncos , and Song Sparrows. An important skill for a birder seeking rare sparrows is to know the common sparrows very well to avoid being fooled.

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Sparrows New Jersey United States Birds 175

10,000 Birds

MAY 16, 2017

A New York City Parks Department contractor just wiped out a breeding population of sparrows in tons of trouble already, on land owned by the parks department that was supposed to be protected as “Forever Wild.” It looks to me like they drove a crane straight through this section of what’s called Four Sparrow Marsh. Not anymore.

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New York City New York Sparrows 2016 208

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

So, let’s talk more about the Harris’s Sparrow. This big, chunky sparrow is one of Canada’s few endemic breeders (Wikipedia says the only one, but I trust Cornell more.) This genus contains some of my favorite sparrows, although it is hard to put my finger on why. Unlike all other U.S.

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Sparrows Breeders Science Canada 178

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2013

This morning – 26 October 2013 – at Jacob Riis Park in coastal Queens, New York, I was very pleased to see hordes of sparrows in every bit of brush, long grass, and anywhere else that you could fit a sparrow. Like I said earlier in the post, when I first arrived the Savannah Sparrow was all puffed up.

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Sparrows 2013 New York Birds 172

Reddit Animals

DECEMBER 18, 2023

When I checked, there's a sparrow in the ground. Also, its a Eurasian Tree Sparrow endemic in the Phils. So I didn't see how it happened but I just heard my beagle do this whine when they're really close to a target. He's still breathing and looks alive. But I'm sure he hurt his wing.

Sparrows 40

Sparrows Vet Bats Dogs 40

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2016

The year-round residents were all in attendance and I was pleased that both an Eastern Towhee and Chipping Sparrows were enjoying the spilled seed on the ground. But a red-cheeked Chipping Sparrow is something that I had never heard of before. What is clear, however, is that a Chipping Sparrow like this is not to be expected.

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Sparrows Birds Species 105

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 28, 2013

It involves sparrows. Just sparrows. The winner will achieve eternal fame as the best sparrow-identifier out there and everyone else will get kudos for having the guts to guess. Diabolical Sparrow Quiz Photo 1. Diabolical Sparrow Quiz Photo 2. Diabolical Sparrow Quiz Photo 3. Diabolical Sparrow Quiz Photo 3.

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Sparrows Species Birds 191

10,000 Birds

MARCH 22, 2013

First he thought it was a book of poetry, but when I said no, he proceeded with a long story about the red sparrows ( House Finches ) at his new feeder. These signs point to the fact that this book is both lovely and necessary. All this, she accomplishes in 165 pages, not stinting on lovely illustrations, many in color.

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Sparrows Feral Cats North America Feral 179

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2014

Heydi Lopes is one of those Brooklyn birders and she was working the turf on the last day of November when she deservedly found a Le Conte’s Sparrow , the second she had found there in the last several years. Le Conte’s Sparrow are a good bird in New York and seeing as I had only ever seen one before I wanted to see this one.

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Sparrows New York City New York Birds 176

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2012

Residents of the Americas may find this hard to believe, but the ubiquitous, adaptable House Sparrow ( Passer domesticus ) is declining in its native lands. World Sparrow Day is celebrated annually on March 20th to raise awareness across the globe about the decline of the House Sparrow and how it impacts all of us.

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Sparrows 2012 Raised America 184

10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2018

Like the fine, fine sparrows. Clearly, and as someone who has spent two springs birding around the Great Lakes, I can assure you that you were right all along when you had that subtle, subconscious feeling that spring warblers really weren’t that great after all and that even in spring, sparrows reign supreme. No warbler-neck.

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Sparrows New York City New York 2011 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2012

A couple of weeks ago I watched and photographed a young House Sparrow getting fed by its mother. I also watched, but failed to get pictures of, the same young bird being fed by two different male House Sparrows. This post was first published in June 2008, but we’re sharing this tender moment to celebrate World Sparrow Day !)

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Sparrows Raccoons Battery North America 213

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 4, 2017

This was a real bonus spot last year, especially with migratory sparrows. The biggest surprise this year was the large number of Black-throated Sparrows. I got excited every time I would see nice flock of sparrows, in hopes that it would be the Lark, Vesper, Savannah, Clay-colored or Grasshopper Sparrows of last year.

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Sparrows 2017 Battery Mexico 116

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 25, 2015

A new paper out this month attempts to paint the most comprehensive picture yet of the origins and diversification of the American sparrows, wood-warblers, blackbirds, cardinals, tanagers, and their kin, an enormous group of birds more than 800 species strong. We now know a lot more about who is a tanager vs. a sparrow vs. a cardinal.

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Sparrows North America South America Blackbirds 250

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2011

Any day of birding in New York State that includes a sighting of a Vesper Sparrow is a better-then-average day. The precipitous plunge of Vesper Sparrow populations has been largely because of changing land use practices. The Vesper Sparrow is named for its tendency to sing in the evening, right before the end of the day.

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Sparrows North Dakota United States New York 165

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

When I heard back on 12 November that a Harris’s Sparrow was frequenting a feeder in Loudonville, New York, up where I learned to be a birder, in Albany County, I really wanted to go on the twitch. En route, we discussed the brouhaha that the sparrow had caused. This is one classy sparrow! Harris’s Sparrow !

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New York Sparrows New York City Woodpeckers 101

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 16, 2013

At first glance you might not recognize this bird as a Golden-crowned Sparrow ( Zonotrichia atricapilla ). The entire Golden-crowned Sparrow population migrates within North America between winter and summer ranges… arriving in California in September and October, often foraging with White-crowned Sparrows.

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Sparrows Alabama North America New Jersey 160

10,000 Birds

APRIL 26, 2013

Since it’s really hard to type in a splint, here is a blast from the past: specifically from the beginning of this long, strange trip, my cross-country journey from New York to Montana: I have to confess, I had forgotten all about the Eurasian Tree Sparrow. I wasn’t thinking about the Eurasian Tree Sparrow at all, though.

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Sparrows St. Louis Kansas City Kansas 165

10,000 Birds

APRIL 17, 2012

Sparrows, on the other hand, seem to make the most of the lamb-like weather left over from the end of March and make their move northward while wistful, wood-warbler-wishing birders have seen few of their quarry. In the New York City area the number and variety of sparrows a birder can see in mid-April is astounding.

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Sparrows New York City New York Fox 145

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

. “By examining the genetics, we have shown conclusively that the Italian sparrow is of mixed origin – it is a hybrid of the house sparrow and the Spanish sparrow,&# Dr Saetre told BBC Nature.

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Sparrows Science Breeding Species 154

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 26, 2014

He was with some other birders at Jacob Riis Park, out on the barrier beaches of Queens, and they were looking at a Henslow’s Sparrow that Patricia Lindsay had found. She asked if I wanted to go see the sparrow. Let’s take a moment here to understand why I was so psyched to see a Henslow’s Sparrow.

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Sparrows New York Abandon Abandoning 157

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2011

In response to the decline last year saw the first ever World Sparrow Day and tomorrow, 20 March, is the second annual World Sparrow Day. In response to the decline last year saw the first ever World Sparrow Day and tomorrow, 20 March, is the second annual World Sparrow Day.

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Sparrows 2011 Deer New York 197

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Finally, we surrendered to the inevitable and continued east to Robert Moses State Park to try to track down the already-reported Clay-colored Sparrow and Blue Grosbeak at Field 2 and the Lark Sparrow out by the lighthouse. It was on to the Lark Sparrow , which had been spotted several days earlier and had stuck.

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Sparrows New York Birds 170

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 9, 2014

A couple of days ago Ken Fuestel, a stalwart downstate New York birder, found a Lark Sparrow at Robert Moses State Park. In fact, Lark Sparrows have been found there annually since at least 2010, according to eBird , and I am sure for many years before that. … Trips Lark Sparrow Robert Moses State Park Suffolk County Twitching'

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Sparrows New York 2010 Birds 170

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2011

I never would have thought that a film that focused entirely on North American sparrows could be so delightful. After all, there is only so much sparrow that non-birders can take and this film is chock full of sparrows! As such, it is neither for the faint of heart nor the non-birder.

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Sparrows North America United States America 168

Reddit Animals

JUNE 26, 2023

Found what seems to be a fledgling sparrow, and I know you aren’t meant to move them, however the place it was at happened to be where my dog is and where stray cats seem to sneak through.

Sparrows 40

Sparrows Stray Cat Stray Cats 40

10,000 Birds

JULY 13, 2013

One element of Red Rock Canyon that I probably don’t need to see much better is the Black-throated Sparrow. … For comparison purposes, here is a shot of a Black-chinned Sparrow, another desert sparrow found at Red Rock Canyon. … I hope you liked these shots of Black-throated Sparrows.

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Las Vegas Sparrows Nevada United States 172

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2012

The southeast tip of the Florida peninsula is not well endowed with a wide variety of sparrows in winter like the rest of the southeastern United States. Barnes or Matheson Hammock will never produce sightings of any sparrow at all (and if you did, it would be a really good sighting).

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Sparrows Florida Atlanta South Carolina 144

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2011

The City Birder, Rob Jett, was recently assaulted repeatedly by a thuggish House Sparrow that wanted his cookie. Oh, the humanity!

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Sparrows Humane 169

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2011

Savannah Sparrows have been very kind to me over the last couple of years, whether at Brigantine , Breezy Point , or Lake Perris. Savannah Sparrows breed across the northern United States and most of Canada and Alaska and winter as far south as northern Central America and Cuba.

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Sparrows Breeding Cuba United States 162

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2012

Lark Sparrow ( Chondestes grammacus ) photos by Larry Jordan Nearly two years ago I wrote my second post as the West Coast Beat Writer on Lema Ranch, a Northern California birding hot spot.

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Sparrows Mules Jordan California 126

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 2, 2024

One of my ornithologist friends appears to be happy counting House Sparrows and Eurasian Collared Doves for his lists; he also claims that the eBird name stands for “e(very)Bird counts” I doubt that is really where the name came from, but hey, the sentiment sounds so darned noble.

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Birds Sparrows Livestock North America 205

10,000 Birds

MAY 21, 2012

so, while everyone else in the world was hanging out with the Kirtland’s Warbler ( Setophaga kirtlandii ) on the beach at Magee Marsh last week, I was off on a Biggest Week tour through the beautiful Oak Openings Metropark Preserve looking for Lark Sparrows, Blue Grosbeak, Red-headed Woodpecker and other great local birds.

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Sparrows Ohio Woodpeckers Rights 172

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

Then I spotted the Lark Sparrow you see above and then I spotted another Lark Sparrow ! Mind you, before this year I had only ever seen two Lark Sparrows in New York State and none in Queens and these Lark Sparrows were my second and third sightings in Queens in the last month!* Two Lark Sparrows in Queens.

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Sparrows New York City New York Connecticut 151

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2017

Well, not just at a salt marsh but at the Seaside Sparrows that make their living there, at least in the warmer months. It’s not often that you get a chance to watch a pair of Seaside Sparrows so closely and for so long. In practice, this means that I spent a lot of time in a blind staring at a salt marsh.

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Sparrows Wildlife New Jersey Hunting 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2011

A new study reports that female Rufous-collared Sparrows prefer males who sing the local dialect of their song. Captured females were four times more likely to respond with a mating display to a recording of a local song than of playback of a song recorded just fifteen miles away from their home territory.

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Sparrows 160

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2011

Don’t click through to The Freiday Bird Blog if you want to avoid seeing the grisly end of a Seaside Sparrow. Instead, look at the cute baby owl from last spring. Hat-tip to Donna S.

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Sparrows Owls Birds 160