~ A Rare Find ~
Harris's Sparrow (Zonotrichia querula)
OKAY ~ this may not be the most beautiful bird photograph YOU have ever seen ~ HOWEVER ~ since it is the first time in my life I have ever seen this little bird ~ THAT MEANS I’ve added a brand new species to my life list ~ SO FOR ME this is a gorgeous bird photo.
If you aren’t really a bird nut ~ and don’t really like the fact that I can tend to get rather wordy on my descriptions ~ then thank you for looking at my photo, and I will totally understand if you skip the rest of this stuff. However, if you are a bird person ~ or you just have time to kill and you are curious to see what I am going to ramble on about this time, then please …. Read on.
Known as a Harris's sparrow, this is one of those birds the field guides say winters in Texas ~ however ~ after 50 years of chasing through woods and prairies looking for birds ~ I had decided the field guide authors were obviously mistaken. As of Sunday, January 3, 2010 ~ I am happy to admit I was wrong.
(The following info was pulled from Audubon2.org)
This large, handsome sparrow holds the distinction of being the only North American songbird that breeds exclusively in Canada. Because of the location of its remote breeding grounds at the edge of boreal forest and tundra, in 1931 the Harris's Sparrow was one of the last birds in North America to have its eggs and nest described. After a slow migration south from its Canadian breeding grounds, Harris's Sparrow winters solely in the central United States, from South Dakota to Texas.
In winter flocks, Harris's Sparrows maintain linear dominance hierarchies that determine access to food and roost sites. The most dominant birds are the oldest males, which have the largest black bibs.
~ A Rare Find ~
Harris's Sparrow (Zonotrichia querula)
OKAY ~ this may not be the most beautiful bird photograph YOU have ever seen ~ HOWEVER ~ since it is the first time in my life I have ever seen this little bird ~ THAT MEANS I’ve added a brand new species to my life list ~ SO FOR ME this is a gorgeous bird photo.
If you aren’t really a bird nut ~ and don’t really like the fact that I can tend to get rather wordy on my descriptions ~ then thank you for looking at my photo, and I will totally understand if you skip the rest of this stuff. However, if you are a bird person ~ or you just have time to kill and you are curious to see what I am going to ramble on about this time, then please …. Read on.
Known as a Harris's sparrow, this is one of those birds the field guides say winters in Texas ~ however ~ after 50 years of chasing through woods and prairies looking for birds ~ I had decided the field guide authors were obviously mistaken. As of Sunday, January 3, 2010 ~ I am happy to admit I was wrong.
(The following info was pulled from Audubon2.org)
This large, handsome sparrow holds the distinction of being the only North American songbird that breeds exclusively in Canada. Because of the location of its remote breeding grounds at the edge of boreal forest and tundra, in 1931 the Harris's Sparrow was one of the last birds in North America to have its eggs and nest described. After a slow migration south from its Canadian breeding grounds, Harris's Sparrow winters solely in the central United States, from South Dakota to Texas.
In winter flocks, Harris's Sparrows maintain linear dominance hierarchies that determine access to food and roost sites. The most dominant birds are the oldest males, which have the largest black bibs.