Saturday, May 2, 2009

White Crowned Sparrow


The White Crowned Sparrow has distinctive stripes on his head.


A Cardinal and a White Crowned Sparrow share some sunflower seeds.

When we put out food for the birds we hope for the "pretty" birds. Usually that means colorful. But where there is food there are all kinds of hungry birds, many of them sparrows. At first glance, a sparrow is a sparrow, but actually there are many different varieties.

Since it has rained steadily for the past week, I have spent more time looking out the window at the bird feeders. Whenever there is a break in the rain birds swoop in for a quick meal. I had never noticed the White Crowned sparrow before but they love sunflower seeds. They are a little larger than the other sparrows, almost as large as the cardinal. Sparrows get hungry too.

4 comments:

RennyBA said... [Reply to comment]

There is a lot of sparrow in Norway of course, but I'm not sure if I've seen this one - very well captured.

Happy Weekend!

Micki02 said... [Reply to comment]

Hello,
you're so lucky to have this beautifull birds in your garden. In my region we have only grey sparows !! we have also big black birds, I don't know how you call them in english, Anne may help me there are 10 or 12 birds like that in the Tower of London !!
Have a nice day

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

We certainly don't have that species of sparrow and certainly don't have cardinals (only the Holy kind)!!!!

Micki, I think you're thinking about rooks or ravens. If I remember correctly they have ravens in the Tower of London and, supposedly, whilst ever they are there either the palace or England (cannot remember which one) will never fall. To be on the safe side the Beefeater who looks after the ravens clips their wings so they cannot fly away. Better to be safe than sorry I suppose!

Anne

Unknown said... [Reply to comment]

Since I put out a number of bird feeders with several kinds of food, I have discovered that there are many more varieties of birds than I first realized. It helps that I am retired and my computer looks out on the back garden at the feeders. Watching the birds is a small pleasure but rewarding. I even have the time to write little poems about Mockingbirds.