Sparrows Related Topics 
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 8, 2021
Specifically, the area surrounding our church is my best place to see sparrows, both residents and our (much more common) winter migratory sparrows. The one exception is the Chipping Sparrow , which can be found easily wherever there is grass. Happily, nobody would struggle to identify a Lark Sparrow.
10,000 Birds
MAY 28, 2022
Today, along with teams in a few other parts of Costa Rica and elsewhere, I will be birding for a cause, watching birds to help one that only lives in Costa Rica, the Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow. Around the size of a Song Sparrow or Chaffinch , maybe a bit bigger, this mini towhee forages near the ground in dense scrubby vegetation.
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10,000 Birds
APRIL 2, 2019
I like sparrows. I like observing them, reading about them, grappling with species and subspecies identification, and even—on a good day—talking about sparrow taxonomy. The book does not include House Sparrow, an Old World sparrow that belongs to a completely different bird family. Scope of Book. Mexico border.
10,000 Birds
SEPTEMBER 11, 2019
Common birds, you see, tend to have simple names, like House Sparrow, House Finch, or House Wren. A hyphen in a bird’s “first” name can occur pretty much anywhere, which is why the United States has a good supply of birds like White-crowned Sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers. But not all hypens are created equal.
10,000 Birds
MAY 10, 2015
I therefore decided to counter this month’s heinous wood-warbler attack on my retina by choosing the good old trusty House Sparrow as the topic of my May post. The last aspect is something I will elaborate on further below, but not before showing off a prime fine male House Sparrow, unethically photographed at its nest site.
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.
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.
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.
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.
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 7, 2016
Every autumn I spend an inordinate amount of time examining the edges of fields, scrubby stands of brush, and everywhere else that little brown jobs, otherwise known as sparrows, might appear. Of course, I’m always hoping to find Lark Sparrows , Grasshopper Sparrows , Clay-colored Sparrows and other about annual rarities.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 !)
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.
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'
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.
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.
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.
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 !
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.
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).
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.
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.
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 16, 2012
Then, while walking along a phragmite-lined ditch, a small sparrow flushed, flew a few feet, and dropped back down. I immediately knew it wasn’t one of the usual Savannah Sparrows that populate the old landfill. Did I have a Le Conte’s Sparrow ? But would it give me a look? Could I report the bird?
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
10,000 Birds
OCTOBER 4, 2022
In July 2011 a Henslow’s Sparrow was found in Ames, N.Y., I’m not quite sure where I was at the time, probably working, and it was six more years till I got my state Henslow’s Sparrow at Shawangunk NWR (a shorter drive and a more cooperative bird). a rural area in the eastern-central part of the state.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 24, 2021
Which may be why the photo here shows two Clay-colored Sparrows , one Yellow-rumped Warbler , and one lovely Virginia’s Warbler , all hiding among many vicious huizache thorns. This particular thorny habitat seems to be especially beloved by sparrows, both migratory and resident: There were Clay-colored Sparrows by the dozen.
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.
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.
10,000 Birds
OCTOBER 25, 2021
He connected with both, adding Nelson’s Sparrow and Vesper Sparrow for the year. Corey had two species he wanted to make sure he saw this weekend because it is their prime migration time and he hadn’t seen either all year. How about you? What was your best bird of the weekend?
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 4, 2021
393 House Sparrow – Passer domesticus. 394 Eurasian Tree Sparrow – Passer montanus. 418 Stripe-headed Sparrow – Peucaea ruficauda. 419 Chipping Sparrow – Spizella passerina. 420 Clay-colored Sparrow – Spizella pallida. 421 Lark Sparrow – Chondestes grammacus.
10,000 Birds
MAY 12, 2022
Las Mesas is the only place I’ve found for which the Black-chinned Sparrow is a reliable species, but this adorable bird, perhaps my favorite local sparrow, always seemed to position himself with some severe backlighting… until this trip. While I can claim full credit for the sparrow, Jonathan got the next one.
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