With the cooler temperatures arriving, I suddenly have dozens of ground feeding birds joining my Cardinals and House Sparrows.
When you see a pile of dead leaves, look closely.....there may be a sparrow or two lurking in the leaves. They blend in so well, that only their movement gives them away at times. Can you see the two White Throated Sparrows and the tail of another bird above?
They show up a little better here.....4 White Throated Sparrows. I seem to have a rather large flock of them! Their stripes vary from tan to white, but always with the yellow lores next to the bill and the white throat.
I tried to separate out a few for closer inspection. here we have 2 of them plus a Junco in the foreground.
Alone at last!
Peek a boo!
They are like little friendly chickens when they start scratching in the leaves for food.
This one decided to check out the corn feeder, but mostly they stay on the ground in the leaves. I have forsythia bushes at the end of the driveway by this tree and the leaves gather there and so do all the sparrows and ground feeding birds, so I always toss a bunch of seeds in the leaves for them.
Now wait a minute.....that one sparrow looks different! It took me a while to figure this one out, but I think that it is a first winter White Crowned Sparrow, surrounded by three of the White Throated Sparrows. It doesn't have the obvious white stripes on the head yet of the adult, but it matches the picture in the Sibley book for the first year White Crowned. I saw one of the white striped adults a couple days ago but didn't get a photo. Maybe it is still hanging around with this one.
A better look at this young White Crowned Sparrow.
You can see where the white stripes will be in this photo....those grey stripes on the head, one in the middle and one on each side.
Here we have a line up of ground feeders....the Junco, the White Throated Sparrow, and the first year White Crowned Sparrow.
When you see a pile of dead leaves, look closely.....there may be a sparrow or two lurking in the leaves. They blend in so well, that only their movement gives them away at times. Can you see the two White Throated Sparrows and the tail of another bird above?
They show up a little better here.....4 White Throated Sparrows. I seem to have a rather large flock of them! Their stripes vary from tan to white, but always with the yellow lores next to the bill and the white throat.
I tried to separate out a few for closer inspection. here we have 2 of them plus a Junco in the foreground.
Alone at last!
Peek a boo!
They are like little friendly chickens when they start scratching in the leaves for food.
This one decided to check out the corn feeder, but mostly they stay on the ground in the leaves. I have forsythia bushes at the end of the driveway by this tree and the leaves gather there and so do all the sparrows and ground feeding birds, so I always toss a bunch of seeds in the leaves for them.
Now wait a minute.....that one sparrow looks different! It took me a while to figure this one out, but I think that it is a first winter White Crowned Sparrow, surrounded by three of the White Throated Sparrows. It doesn't have the obvious white stripes on the head yet of the adult, but it matches the picture in the Sibley book for the first year White Crowned. I saw one of the white striped adults a couple days ago but didn't get a photo. Maybe it is still hanging around with this one.
A better look at this young White Crowned Sparrow.
You can see where the white stripes will be in this photo....those grey stripes on the head, one in the middle and one on each side.
Here we have a line up of ground feeders....the Junco, the White Throated Sparrow, and the first year White Crowned Sparrow.They were so busy out there that I tried a video to show all the action! They hop out of that bush and just keep showing up one after another doing their "chicken scratch".
Some other winter ground feeders to come in the next couple of posts.
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11 comments:
I think now and for the next couple of months they will be thankful for sny food they can find. It must be really tough in the winter.
...our juncos have arrived, but the white-throated sparrows are still absent. We rarely get a white-crowned sparrow. I'm worried our huge colony of English Sparrows has grown even more and might be squeezing out the white-throated sparrows as well. We'll just have to see what the winter brings.
They sure are camouflaged well.What fun to watch these birds feeding.
Blessings,Ruth
Joan: It is hard in the winter and I feel guilty if I don't put tons of seeds out there every day!
Kelly: I had so many English Sparrows this year that I wanted to scream....must have had at least 15 new babes + parents. I was hoping if the hawk had to eat my birds he would pick them. I know that sounds awful, but they breed too well and like you say they crowd out the other birds. I don't get many White Crowned sparrows either, but maybe a couple each winter. The White Throats just showed up along with about 10 Juncos.
Ruth: They blend so well, I have trouble getting photos!
HI Mary ...great and adorable post.
I live the line up next to the last ..it looks like the races about to start "gentlemen start your engines" lol : }
Video it comical!!
They are well hidden in the leaves! You captured some good shots of them, Mary! Cute video!
Lucky you! I'm still waiting for these guys, but I'll be hopeful this year. Cool shots, and you surely could miss them.
B.
Hi Mary, I love seeing both of your little Sparrows.. They are so pretty.... When you first started talking about winter birds eating in the leaves, the first bird I thought about was a Junco.... Then you mentioned that you had some also...Very NICE set of photos.
Hugs,
Betsy
It looks as if the area around your feeders are becoming increasingly popular. We had many more birds around today.
Wow! I had no idea there were birds in that first photo! Once you told me and then I enlarged it, I saw them. Camouflage certainly works!
Thsnks everyone!..The sparrows blend in with the leaves and there are a lot of shadows there, so photos are not the best. That video looked a lot better before I posted it....seems unfocused now that it is posted. Hmmm.
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