White-throated Sparrow
I was watching a spotted towhee working his way to my feeder.* I like watching these towhees. They are the under lords of the bushes. Large sparrows with red eyes and a devious expression. They twitch their tails. Flashing the white on the outer tips of there tails. Twitch. Twitch. It feels like a warning. They enter the feeder, everything scatters.
I was watching the towhee when, I saw a small sparrow with dominant crown strips working the edge of the bushes above a rock wall. I thought he was a white-crowned sparrow, a common species to Utah but a new bird for my yard. I ran for my binoculars and put him under glass. ** The prominent yellow spots above his eyes and bordered white throat patch told me it wasn't a white-crowned but a white-throated sparrow.
*I was suppose to be painting base boards but easily get distracted by my windows. Nate is so patient.
** A European term. It took me a long time to get it into a sentence. Yes, I feel proud of me.
Bird geek information:
The white-throated sparrow spends its summers in northern Canada and his winters east, south, and west of Utah. They sing "Oh sweet Canada". You can listen to it here . They also have better pictures of the sparrow, that were probably not taken through a dirty glass window with a hand held camera at 20X zoom.
I was expecting the picture to be really blurry. You crack me up. I am happy for you that you got to see your bird. Its a cute little guy!
ReplyDeleteYEAH!! What an awesome bird in your yard no less!! I had to move to a new state and go out in sub-zero weather to see my first WTS.
ReplyDeleteHow exciting!!!!
ReplyDeleteI am impressed with your knowledge of birds, and of so many other subjects. This is a beautiful bird; so intricate in detail. I appreciate your footnotes and definitions, very clever, very helpful.
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