Lincoln's Sparrow, Migrating Now, Look for Them!

Lincoln's Sparrow

Lincoln's Sparrow

Lincoln's Sparrow compared to the larger White-throated Sparrow

Sparrows are an acquired taste, we always say. Here's one of my favorites, a migrant Lincoln's Sparrow that I just photographed in our veggie garden eating weed seeds. We get very few Lincoln's coming through here in NH. Here is it also compared to the more common migrant here, the larger White-throated Sparrow it was foraging with. Lincoln's have subtle colors with that warm buffy breast and flanks with distinct fine, black streaking contrasting with clear white belly and whitish throat. Face with buffy submoustachial region and relative thin blackish malar streak. (Yeah, you gotta get into these type of clues if you want to learn sparrow ID, I told you they were an acquired taste, but worth it!) Lincoln's Sparrows breed across much of Canada, AK and parts of the West and winter across the lower southern area of U.S. and some of the West Coast. Look for them now!
See our Stokes Field Guides for much more on sparrow ID!