Tag: White-crowned Sparrow

Rentenaar Road, Sauvie Island

by John Rakestraw, posted in OR Birding Sites, rarities

white-throated sparrowRentenaar Road, on Sauvie Island, is one of the better sparrow patches in the Portland area. I found ten species this morning, about typical for this time of year. This boldly patterned White-throated Sparrow was one of the prettier ones.

dark-eyed juncoDark-eyed Junco

golden-crowned sparrowGolden-crowned Sparrows are the most common sparrows along this stretch of road.

lincoln's sparrowLincoln’s Sparrow, one of my favorites and one of the hardest to photograph

song sparrowSong Sparrow

white-crowned sparrowWhite-crowned Sparrow

spotted towheeSpotted Towhee with two Golden-crowned Sparrows

harris's frontThe rarest bird of the day was this Harris’s Sparrow. This is the third winter in a row that a Harris’s (perhaps the same bird) has been wintering at this location.

harris's and golden-crownedHarris’s Sparrow with Golden-crowns

harris's and white-crownedHarris’s with White-crowned

harris's and white-throatedand finally, the Harris’s with a tan-morph White-throated Sparrow in the background. It’s nice that this visitor from the Great Plains gets along with everyone.

robinWhile certainly not a sparrow, this American Robin was just begging to be photographed, so here you go.

Sparrowpalooza

by John Rakestraw, posted in seasonal movements

I spent the morning in Scappoose, OR, this morning looking for a Brambling that was seen about a week ago. I didn’t have any luck with the Brambling, but it was great fun watching the variety of sparrows that were feeding in the area. Winter brings great flocks of sparrows to the Portland area. I saw the eight species pictured below, all within a few minutes, while sitting at the edge of the trail.


Dark-eyed Junco


Song Sparrow


Lincoln’s Sparrows are among the most beautiful sparrows in North America, but are also rather shy, so they tend to stay out of range of point-and-shoot photography.


Lincoln’s Sparrow, with a Song Sparrow in the background


Fox Sparrows tend to lurk in the thicker cover.


He finally emerged for some millet.


White-crowned Sparrow


White-crowned Sparrow, first winter


Golden-crowned Sparrow


White-throated Sparrow, with a Golden-crowned in the background


Spotted Towhee

Sparrows

by John Rakestraw, posted in identification challenges, OR Birding Sites

I am revving up for my Little Brown Birds class next month, so I spent some time with the sparrow flocks on Sauvie Island (Birding Oregon p.57). A walk down Rentenaar Road revealed five species, three of which sat still long enough to be photographed.

white-crowned
White-crowned Sparrows stand out with their bold head pattern.

white-crownedjuv
Immature White-crowned Sparrows have the same pattern as the adults, but in brown and buff instead of black and white.

golden-crowned
Two Golden-crowned Sparrows, immature on the left, adult on the right
song
This Song Sparrow was feeding right at my feet, but insisted on staying in my shadow, thus messing up the lighting in the photo.

peregrine
This Peregrine Falcon wasn’t much of a threat to the sparrows, but he did make the shorebirds and waterfowl nervous.