Thursday, November 4, 2010

The winter ground feeding birds part 2.....

Fox Sparrows and Song Sparrows.....which is which?
I don't see many Fox Sparrows, but usually have a Song Sparrow or two around. This photo is dark....sorry. I think this is a Fox Sparrow. They are suppose to be more "rufous" in color and this one was pretty red.
The grey marks on its face look more like Fox Sparrow, too.

Here the head shows pretty clearly.

The rest of these I think are the Song Sparrow....maybe.
The colors in the head seemed more like the Song Sparrow, but not sure.

Not as reddish over all, but the tail was pretty red.


I'm really not sure

They are pretty little sparrows, which ever one they are!

11 comments:

Arija said...

Your different sparrows are so pretty, we only have common house sparrows her imported from England by the early settler. They have become a pest species here.

Don Wood said...

House Sparrows in the UK are in decline due to loss of habbitat etc but I love them even if I dont see so many any more. I love your piccies. XXX Don

grammie g said...

Hi Mary...try this link that I found when Renee was trying to find which sparrow she had last week at her feeder!
www.pbase.com/mobish/all-sparrow-species-together
Let me know if works. It has pictures of any sparrow there is I think!!
There is a rain,snow mix line near Renees place on the radar map and heading my way! yuck!

Mary said...

Arija: We have the same problem with them over here. I have about 24 at my house this year.

Don: Over here they nest anywhere..can't imagine how they run out of habitat! The whole world would love to ship them back to England.

Grammie: Thanks for the link. Still no rain here this week :-(

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Wow---more cute little Sparrows... You really have a good variety...That one you don't know does look like a Song Sparrow--but I'm not totally sure.

Have a great weekend. Gonna get really cold here.
Hugs,
Betsy

Strawberry Jam Anne said...

They are lovely little birds, whichever type they are. We have very few sparrows here, sadly.

Becky said...

More cute little guys. I love how they blend in with the leaves. Sharp eyes you have.
Love your header Mary. Is that seed a ready mix, or do you mix it yourself?
B.

Anonymous said...

Very pretty and better than the common ones Mary.

CountryDreaming said...

One of them at least seems to be a Fox Sparrow. The tricky part is how much color variation the different sparrows can have throughout their range, and then maybe they start interbreeding? In any case, very cool photos!

Anonymous said...

I don't know which they are, but they certainly are pretty! And well camouflaged as well. ;)

Mary said...

Thank you everyone. Sparrows are always tricky to name, but I enjoy looking at all their various colorations and patterns.