White-crowned Sparrow, immature at our feeder
White-crowned Sparrow, adultThis lovely, immature, White-crowned Sparrow was at the feeder today, an unusual treat as we don't get many White-crowed Sparrows here in southern NH. This is a sparrow who breeds in the far north in tundra and also in alpine meadows and grasslands in parts of the West. They come here during their migration and they winter in much of the southern parts of the country and some of the West.
I love the subtle coloring of the immature, who has brown and grayish head stripes rather than the black and white stripes on the head of the adult. Look for them at your feeders.
4 comments:
White crowned sparrows winter here with us in San Diego County, among other places. They arrived here October 2nd. I didn't keep track of when they left in the spring, but I will next spring.
Gannets are one of the major population of seabirds on the cliffs where I grew up in England -- Bempton and Flamborough cliffs, East Yorkshire
Chris,
Lucky you to have the White-crowned Sparrows with you all winter. We just see them during migration. Gannets are such awesome birds.
We've had an immature White-crowned sparrow at our feeders for the past 2 days. I had a bit of trouble identifying him because we only see White-crowns passing through during the spring here in upstate NY. He looks just like yours though. What a treat it is to have a 'mystery sparrow' to liven up these cold and snowy winter days :)
I hadn't ever seen these birds before - I have 6 of them this year in Northern Michigan (Traverse City). They seem to be more of a ground feeder but they will go into the feeder too. I saw other photos with this bird name - but with this photo of the adult bird I was able to identify it exactly - thanks !!
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