White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)

© Tom Fangrow

The second edition of Peter Pyle’s ID Guide to North American Birds is now out! We’ve all been waiting a long time - and boy is it worth the wait, with new species and updated info. We’ve learned a lot since the original release in 1997!

I did a version of this illustration in 2020 but here’s the version used in the promo releases now that the actual cover is finalized! Bird banders, and collectors of esoteric bird knowledge, can now find this at Buteo Books and at Slate Creek Press.

White-crowned Sparrow

Contentment is a reward found in the solitary performance of tasks.

White-crowned Sparrow Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 6

The white-crowned sparrows have arrived, while the highs are still in the 90s, their song heralds cooler weather is ahead

callout post: this white-crowned sparrow that bullied us with nonstop beeping until we gave it a snack

The white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)

White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)

© Michael I Christie

White-crowned Sparrow - (Zonotrichia leucophrys)

Chadron State Park - Fall 2023

Fall banding season is baby season. I mean, duh, of course there are going to be a million babies attempting their first migration after the summer breeding season, but it still feels strange to catch So Many Kids compared to adults.

I mention this because you may be wondering, why the heck is it called 'white-crowned' if those head stripes are brown? That is because adult white-crowned sparrows actually do have a gorgeous black-and-white striped head.

I enjoy banding these guys. They're quite chunky for sparrows, which is a treat after handling so many little wrens and warblers all season.

All banding, marking, and sampling is being conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey's BBL.

White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)

© Tom Fangrow

Its been really rainy here so I haven’t been filling my bird feeder as much because I don’t want the food getting soggy and growing mold/bacteria... I’ve also started putting peanuts into it.

...The birds have noticed.  Oh my have they noticed.  So much so that they know to sit on the back porch and scold me when its sunny out and the feeder is empty. Well, not so much the finches and sparrows because they’re chill, but damn do the jays, chickadees and titmice get MAD. They probably think they’re intimidating me into feeding them with their scratchy little shrieks and trills, but the joke’s on them because I think its adorable that I get bossed around by a bunch of irate fluffballs, especially when their combined weight is probably comparable to that of a large strawberry or perhaps a small apple.

10/21/22

Early morning at the wetlands

White-crowned Sparrow

Some require solitude to exist, just as they need air to survive. Omitting one results in sudden death...neglecting the other means gradual diminution of life.

White-crowned Sparrow

Virginia, February 2024.

White-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys

Orange County, CA, 12/2/23

Show Me Your ID!

My daughter-in-law’s mother, the lovely Louise, recently introduced me to a new feature on iPhones. If you click on the “i” information logo on the bottom of an iPhone photo, it will give you the opportunity to identify the flower or bird in the frame. It probably identifies other plants and creatures, too, but so far I have only used it to identify flowers and birds. As I noted in a comment to…

View On WordPress