Columnists
Email
Print
Bird's-Eye View: Keep your eye on the sparrow, be surprised
David Disher Photo
The white-throated sparrow is more colorful than his brother the song sparrow.
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: March 20, 2009
Sparrows are the Rodney Dangerfield of the bird world. They don't get no respect.
Often referred to by birders as LBJs (little brown jobs), they are sometimes considered not worth the trouble of examining closely to figure out which species they are.
It's true, they can be challenging. They're often secretive and lurk among the weeds in winter fields where their streaky-brown plumage blends in well. And when you finally see one, that's all you get -- a small, streaky-brown bird.
Sure, it's a sparrow, but which one? Song? Savannah? Swamp sparrow?
While they are neither as beautiful nor as instantly recognizable as a cardinal or a bluebird, they do have redeeming values -- and many can be identified easily.
Take the song sparrow. This is a common, year-round resident and is equally at ease in weedy fields or suburban shrubs. While its appearance is plain, its song is a thing of beauty. It is among the larger sparrows. And a large dark spot in the center of its heavily streaked breast is one of the keys to its identity.
It's not all brown
But not all sparrows are drab. The white-throated sparrow is a winter resident, and while it could hardly be described as colorful, its white chin, head stripes and a bright yellow spot between the eye and bill are very pretty.
The most colorful sparrow is also the largest. The eastern towhee gets its name from its call, which sounds like tow-EEE. This bird's song is among the first learned by many birders, sounding a little like DRINK-your-TEA.
These three birds, the song sparrow, white-throated sparrow and eastern towhee, along with the dark-eyed junco, also a sparrow, are easily attracted to feeders and add to the variety of birds when the weather keeps us trapped inside. These birds are ground feeders and are best attracted to seeds provided in low-platform feeders. If you scatter seeds on the ground, be sure to move the location every few days to avoid a concentration of waste that might contaminate the seeds and harm birds.
Other sparrows are with us at different times of the year. Chipping and field sparrows are here year-round, while Savannah, white-crowned, fox and swamp sparrows are winter residents. The grasshopper sparrow, named for its insect-like song, is an uncommon breeder in these parts, while Lincoln's sparrows are rare winter visitors.
In mid-January, Phil Dickinson and I were returning from an Audubon Society outing to Huntington Beach State Park just below Myrtle Beach, S.C. We stopped by Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge in Anson County, N.C.
This refuge is about a two-hour drive south from Winston Salem on U.S. 52. The refuge is a mix of pine, hardwoods, wetlands along the Pee Dee River, fields where crops are still grown and fallow fields that are dense with a variety of weeds and grasses.
The active and inactive fields bordered by hedgerows and woodlands are especially good places to find sparrows. Our first stop was a weedy field near the refuge entrance. We found several field, song and white-throated sparrows, a couple of swamp sparrows and six handsome fox sparrows. But it was at a freshly plowed field bordered by pine woodlands where we found sparrows in abundance.
Dozens of chipping sparrows decorated the scrubby growth along the field edges, while over a hundred Savannah sparrows scavenged bits of food from among the furrows of the field. During this brief stop, we found nine species of sparrows along with many other birds. It was a great opportunity to hone our skills on one of the more challenging groups of birds.
But you don't have to drive two hours to see a variety of sparrows. The Muddy Creek Greenway and Tanglewood Park are prime locations. But wherever you find them, please show them a little respect.
□ The Audubon Society of Forsyth County will meet at SciWorks, 400 West Hanes Mill Road at 7 p.m. this Tuesday. Andy Wood, the Audubon N.C. education director, will present "Chickadees, Ibises and Broken-Striped Newts: Potential Consequences of Climate Change to North Carolina's Special Wildlife and Habitats."
Go to www.forsythaudubon.org for information on bird walks, monthly meetings and field trips.
□ The Audubon Society of Forsyth County has announced the availability of a $500 scholarship for grad-uating high-school seniors. Eligible students must demonstrate an interest in environmental issues. Appli-cations can be found at www.wsfoundation.org/students. The deadline is March 31.
■ Bird's-Eye View is a joint column by Ron Morris and Phil Dickinson. Today's column was written by Morris. Morris retired after 24 years as curator at the N.C. Zoo. He has studied birds around the world and is currently the vice president of the Audubon Society of Forsyth County. Dickinson is a legal writer. He has been an active birder for 15 years, and is a past president of the Audubon Society of Forsyth County and chairs the conservation committee. If you have a birding question or story idea, write to Bird's-Eye View in care of Features, Winston-Salem Journal, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101-3159, or send an e-mail to birding@wsjournal.com. Please type "birds" in the subject line.
Email
Print
