Compare-A-Sparrow

Day 187: Several sparrow species visit my yard over the summer, the most common being White-Crowned (Zonotrichia leucophrys, right). As noted yesterday, Chipping (Spizella passerina) does not appear every year, but Golden-Crowned (Z. atricapilla, left) does. In the course of the thirty-plus years I've lived here, I have observed one English Sparrow (Passer domesticus, non-native and a nuisance) and only a handful of White-Throated (Z. albicollis). However, given that I currently have three of those listed showing up daily at the feeders, and the Birdcast Migration Dashboard says that White-Throated is passing through the county, I have high hopes of seeing one again. Habitat! It's all about providing habitat. When I first moved here, there was very little in the way of shrubbery other than a strip of woods on the far side of the house and a hedge out front. I began planting trees and bushes with a mind to attracting birds. It took ten years or so before they began showing up in number, but I really felt the job was done when the first chickadees settled in. Now, on many days during the summer, I might count two dozen or more different species happily sharing space with one another where food is plentiful.

Going Head-To-Head

Day 194: The sudden spring influx of birds finds the sparrows going head-to-head for seed and, if at first glance you assumed these two were the same species, look again. Notice that the one on the left is wearing a white bicycle helmet, whereas the one on the right has a "mohawk" hairdo, dyed yellow to demand your attention to detail. Now you've got it! Here we have a White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) and a Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla), the two Sparrow species most common to my yard. The males of most Sparrow species generally have some obvious colouration which makes it possible to tell them apart. However, the females can present problems even for experienced birders. It takes a bit of practice to train the eye to look for field identification points such as eye stripes, wing bars, beak shape, leg colour, breast markings, etc., but if you keep those things in mind while watching birds in your own yard, you will soon discover that it's easier to tell LBJs and LGBs apart (birder parlance for "Little Brown Jobs" and "Little Grey Birds").

Birding With Pencils

Day 216: For the moment at least, I am attempting to make one bird sketch each day. I find that it takes at least an hour and a half (sometimes substantially more), and during the endeavour, I tend to lose track of the passage of time. When I finally reach the "Okay, that does it" stage, the morning has all but disappeared. I am also trying to improve my technique by watching YouTube videos on shading, blending, layering and so on, and it is obvious to me that I still have a lot to learn. Still, for someone who has had absolutely no training in art, I am happy with most of the portraits: 18 to date, one of which I will not make public because I could not capture the colour accurately. Top to bottom, left to right, here you see a female Black-Headed Grosbeak, a Piping Plover chick, Northern Cardinal, male Black-Headed Grosbeak, and a head study showing the differences in the field markings between Golden-Crowned and White-Throated Sparrows, often confused by novice birders who only catch a glint of golden yellow on the forward portion of the head. Each drawing was made from photos I have taken of the "locals" with the exceptions of the Plover chick (reference image from a friend) and the Northern Cardinal (a species we do not have in western Washington).

Respect Our Earth

Day 191: "The goal of life is living in agreement with Nature." Any birdbrain ought to be able to see the sense of Zeno of Citium's philosophy, but somewhere you humans lost the thread and decided that our world's resources were for your exclusive exploitation, and now look at the mess it's got you in. You have rising sea levels, rampant wildfires, incursions of invasives, polluted air, and that's just to name a few of the things your greed has brought to pass. I'd have thought those opposable thumbs you're always bragging about might have meant that you'd use your hands to do good, rather than to destroy. I mean, we're kinda helpless in that regard. We can't defend ourselves against what you're doing to our planet, but you're not just hurting us. You're hurting yourselves. And still you don't learn. If you could fly, maybe a bird's-eye view would give you a better perspective. Today is Earth Day. For just a minute, think about the other creatures who share this world. We're all in this together, you know.

Nicknames

Day 365: You may have noticed that many of the visitors to my yard have been given generic or individual nicknames. There's Nut, the 'Dee-dees, Little Blue Snot (the Lazuli Bunting), Snowflake (a junco with a single white feather on its head) and so on. This is GC, short for Golden-Crowned Sparrow. If you think back to an earlier post this year, I had what I believed to be a dozen or so juvenile Chipping Sparrows foraging on the ground below the feeders. I realize now that my identification was in error. Birds exhibiting the same behaviour have now coloured up, and the patch on their heads is noticeably yellow. This species is more common to my yard, and I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I didn't immediately recognize GC when he was younger. Now that he is nicknamed, this episode of Backyard Birding will jog my memory when the juveniles show up next year.

Golden-Crowned Puzzle

Day 205: "Tsee-see, soo-soo! Tsee-see, soo-soo!" The pitch was the same as that of the Varied Thrush, but two sets of two syllables instead of one with the notes widely separated, and without the burriness of the Thrush's call. I hear the bird every spring and, to the best of my knowledge, had never laid eyes on it, or at least not to see it issuing the call. "Tsee-see, soo-soo!" was driving me nuts. I listened to every recording of bird calls I have in the house, including the full eight hours of "Birding By Ear," tried different internet sources for recordings and/or mnemonic guides, but nothing fit with the song I was hearing. It had to be a fairly common bird, so I sat out on my back porch, listening. Ten minutes into my vigil, I heard it at a distance. I tried whistling the call, knowing that I can do a passin' fair Varied Thrush owing to the fact that I don't whistle well; in fact, my whistle is thready and weak, somewhat doubled by a crooked front tooth. Sure enough, "Tsee-see, soo-soo!" echoed back to me from a nearby shrub. I whistled again. The response was immediate. Back and forth we went, talking to each other, until finally the bird moved into visual range. I whistled again, and the Golden-Crowned Sparrow perched on the end of the raspberry cage opened its beak and issued his reply. Satisfied that I had solved a mystery of some years' standing, I double-checked with Cornell Labs' "All About Birds" recordings. Yup, Golden-Crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia atricapilla. "Tsee-see, soo-soo!" to you too, sir!

Golden-Crowned Sparrow

Day 191: The key to success in birding is to learn to observe typical field markings at a glance. A little practice will train your eye to look for key features like wing bars, facial characteristics, breast-flecking, etc. Here, the logic behind the common name "Golden-Crowned Sparrow" is readily apparent in adult birds of the species, but immature specimens can be mistaken for White-Crowned because the yellow patch is commonly absent in young birds. Note that Golden-Crowned has but a single stripe running over the crown of the head. White-Crowned Sparrows exhibit a "bicycle helmet" pattern with white stripes through the eyes as well as on top. A mature Golden-Crowned's yellow patch nevertheless fades to white toward the back of the head. By noting these distinguishing characteristics, you'll be able to parse these two species into their correct...um...pigeonholes. Sparrowholes?

Comparative Anatomy, Sparrow-Style

Day 198: Sparrow species aren't nearly as confusing as Warblers, but even so, they can be daunting for beginning birders. Take for example Golden-Crowned Sparrows (top) and White-Crowned Sparrows (bottom). Young Golden-Crowned birds often don't exhibit the distinctive yellow patch on the tops of their heads until they've gone through their first moult. A novice birder, seeing only a white stripe might assume that a young Golden-Crowned was a White-Crowned, but closer observation of the head will give a second clue. White-Crowned Sparrows also have a white stripe above the eye. The top stripe and the eye band intersect on the back of the head, giving the bird the appearance of wearing a bicycle helmet. Golden-Crowned has only the single stripe, and even if the yellow feathers have not emerged, this distinguishes them from White-Crowned quite readily.

Golden-Crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia Atricapilla

Day 198: Another bird who prefers to forage on the ground is Golden-Crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla). They mix quite congenially with the more numerous White-Crowned Sparrows, and sometimes the yellow cap is so faint that I have to look twice before noting the absence of an eye stripe. Golden-Crowned's head marking is a single line; that of White-Crowned is two bands, one on the top of the head and the other through the eye, intersecting at 90 degrees on the back of the head.

For many people (particularly city-dwellers), the only association they have with sparrows is with English Sparrow, and you may hear the remark, "The sparrows drive all the other birds away." Just like many other introduced species, English Sparrows tend to dominate the areas where they occur. However, that's not true with the native species like Golden-Crowned and White-Crowned. They mingle with juncos, finches and siskins without engaging in territorial disputes, although the occasional argument arises over which bird saw a particular seed or bug first.

Zonotrichia Atricapilla, Golden-Crowned Sparrow

Day 196: Golden-Crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla) prefers to dine on the ground. At my house, that means joining their White-Crowned cousins as part of the clean-up crew, gathering seed the other birds have dropped at the foot of the feeder trays. There's still plenty they miss, as evidenced by the number of sunflower sprouts currently coming up, but they do a good job on the smaller seeds. They also forage for bugs in the bark beds and in the grass, good little "gardener's helpers." Although the White-Crowned Sparrows always come to visit in the spring and summer, Golden-Crowned's tenancy is inconsistent and occasionally misses a year. This year, however, I have a greater number than usual, almost equal to the population of White-Crowned.

Golden-Crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia Atricapilla

Day 210: Walking out to Rainey Creek, I nearly always spot some bird I haven't yet photographed successfully, and I wind up standing there trying to catch the elusive little buggers between branches in the hopes of identifying them when I get home. I've seen dozens of Chickadees here, scores of Warblers, and I've spent substantial amounts of time offering myself up as mosquito bait only to come away with nothing to show for my pains. It doesn't stop me from returning, not hardly! The walk to Rainey Creek is delightful if you go in the right season, but avoid June at all costs!

Today, a fluttering in the branches again caught my eye, and it turned out to be the activity of half a dozen Golden-Crowned Sparrows, a bird whose most distinguishing field characteristic eliminates the need to observe any other. The bright yellow crown which gives this species its common name sets it apart from any other bird in the region. However, young Golden-Crowned Sparrows can be mistaken for White-Crowned until the yellow feathers emerge.

While this image is not a classic field-guide pose showing the full body morphology, there is no mistaking Mr. Golden-Crowned's golden crown! Now, if I could just get those darn Warblers to hold still long enough to zoom in!