Monday, October 12, 2015

My Eyes Are on the Sparrows

Design - "Little Boo"
Chart - "Playing with Jax" #328
Designer - The Cricket Collection
Fabric - 30 count Flax Field linen
Fibers - DMC - 2 strands over 2 threads
Started - October 2015
Completed - 7 October 2015

Finally an October owl finish to share. I like Little Boo with his hat and green eyes, the yellow moon and stars.

When people get interested in birding, they tend to dismiss what I call the BBB's - Basic Brown Birds like Sparrows.  Honestly Basic Brown Birds are hard to tell apart sometimes. I get excited about all birds and thought I'd share the Sparrows that I've seen.

Here's a Song Sparrow. It is probably the largest of the Sparrows I see and as it is here all year, I've gotten good at IDing it. 

The Fox Sparrow is about the same size as the Song Sparrow and for a long time I thought they were one and the same.  Then I noticed that the Song Sparrow had a brown and gray striped head, while the Fox Sparrow's head was dark brown.   

White-crowned Sparrows are well named - what else could you call them?  Zebra Sparrows maybe?

Golden-crowned Sparrows are a bit trickier as the 'golden' is a rather muted yellow. 

Here's the Sparrow I informally (and incorrectly) nick-named the City Sparrow as most everyone sees this bird in town picking up bits of dropped food and nesting in the signage on a business.  It's a House Sparrow and is extremely comfortable living in urban areas - it is a very rare visitor for me in the countryside.

While the House Sparrow has a gray head with brown side stripes, the Chipping Sparrow has a brown head with gray side stripes.  I've only seen a Chipping Sparrow a couple of times.

What on earth brought on this Sparrow post you might ask.
Why a new Sparrow that's what!

This weekend as I was setting out sunflower seeds, I noticed this bird with yellow patches above its bill.  

It also has a black and white striped head much like the White-crowned Sparrow, but the yellow patches and the white throat help to ID it as a White-throated Sparrow! 

I was pretty excited to add this new bird to my Life List!
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16 comments:

  1. MaggeeOctober 12, 2015 at 5:16 AM

    Yes, lots of White-throated Sparrows being seen around here now, also! Not by ME yet... maybe soon! Thanks for the comparison of Sparrows! Hugs!

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  2. VickieOctober 12, 2015 at 7:04 AM

    I like your post title. ;)
    I think the white crowned sparrow is cool! Never seen it before.

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  3. Sallie (FullTime-Life)October 12, 2015 at 10:07 AM

    Congrats on the Lifer! But you didn't need that excuse to post the rest of them as far as I'm concerned! They're all sweet and your post is a great brush up on IDs... And fun to look at too. We used to call them LBJs ... Little brown jobs ... Before we got into birding and trying to name them. When we had our Hayden Bridge area home in Springfield, the crowned sparrows, both kinds, loved our brush pile! I always hated it when it was time to get rid of it in the spring.

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  4. CarolOctober 12, 2015 at 11:06 AM

    I had no idea there were so many types of sparrows! You sure do know your birds, Beth!

    And what a cute finish in those bright Halloweeny colors :)

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  5. AnonymousOctober 12, 2015 at 3:08 PM

    I love the brown birds! But I do tend to favor that which goes unnoticed, LOL. These are some great sparrow photos!! And your stitching finish is cute!

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  6. Le trame della GalavernaOctober 12, 2015 at 3:09 PM

    Lovely stitch
    I adore all birds there are beautiful creatures.
    Near my little city we have :
    oasi di sant'Alessio pavia
    and it is a beautiful park for birds and others animals so I can admire a lot of birds.

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  7. LeeOctober 12, 2015 at 7:21 PM

    The only sparrow I ever see is the house sparrow and they are very plentiful here down under. We do also have a hedge sparrow but not seen here in town loved seeing your different sparrows

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  8. AnonymousOctober 12, 2015 at 9:17 PM

    cute design ☼

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  9. eileeninmdOctober 13, 2015 at 4:45 AM

    Wonderful collection of sparrows! Congrats on your lifer the White-throated Sparrow. Great post, enjoy your day!

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  10. fredamansOctober 13, 2015 at 12:19 PM

    Lovely bird shots!

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  11. daisy gOctober 13, 2015 at 5:40 PM

    I'm always amazed at your bird knowledge. I need to keep researching...;0D

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  12. Rambling WoodsOctober 13, 2015 at 6:51 PM

    A lifer is always a treat...I enjoy all the birds..we have too many house sparrows, but I don't do anything about it....Everyone eats....Michelle

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  13. BreathtakingOctober 13, 2015 at 11:21 PM

    Hello!:) You are so lucky to see so many lovely little sparrows. A much underrated bird. I only see the house and tree sparrows.

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  14. MelodyOctober 14, 2015 at 6:29 AM

    I see sparrows often in our yard. I guess I have never taken the time to study them more closely to figure out which type of sparrow they are. Shame on me for not noticing. They get overlooked when we are looking out for the more showy birds. :-(

    Your owl stitch is coming along nicely.

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  15. A Colorful WorldOctober 14, 2015 at 8:03 AM

    ...and often ours are not! But you have given us a great collection of lovely sparrows to enjoy!

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  16. NCSueOctober 15, 2015 at 5:01 AM

    Pretty little fellas, aren't they!
    Hope you'll come link up at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2015/10/a-little-bit-squirrelly.html

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Thank you all. I appreciate that you've read my blog and are taking the time to comment.