A few fox sparrows joined the mixed flock at the feeders on Saturday. These guys are pretty skittish compared to the rest of the sparrows and juncoes. They race through the gravel under the feeders, scratching up fallen seed.
This is a new yard bird for me. I'm sure they've been here, but I have only tried telling sparrows apart since spring. A great book for sparrow identification is Identify Yourself by Bill Thompson III. Maybe I'll try warblers next.
9 comments:
I have these birds in my yard as well, but never knew what they were. Thank you- I will have to check the book out.
prairie chick-
The full title of the book is Identify Yourself The 50 Most Common Birding Identification Challenges. It was great help for sparrows.
Bill who?
Great book isn't it.
I'll have to check out that book- I see lots of sparrows in the grass and thickets at my place, and I usually write them off as song sparrows although I'm hoping there are a few different ones in there!
Ric-
Why that would be your buddy BT3!!
Deb-
There's a great section on warblers too that gave me a little bit of confidence last spring. But I admit, I threw my hands AND the book in the air this fall when those @$#%& warblers came through with their fall coats on!!
Thanks for visiting. :)
I love to see fox sparrows in the yard. We only see them come to the feeders when it snows, though, and around here that doesn't happen all that often.
Nice photos! And great that you can tell the sparrows apart! I'll have to check the book out.
I love fox sparrows - so big and robust and colorful!
swamp4me-
I believe fox sparrows are only seen here during migration.
naturewoman-
It's a great book. I'm pretty comfortable distinguishing 4-5 sparrows. I've got more work to do!
LauraH-
They really are quite pretty! The one in the photo had a bit more gray on its head than the rest.
Post a Comment