Sparrows of the West #8 - Coastal Song Sparrow 4469
View large to see eye-bar and markers down the body from there. One more song sparrow to visit. I have noticed that the Song sparrows I've found in Monterey, Elkhorn Slough, and Big Sur have much deeper browns, almost a copper on the wings and face. These are much more brown-black on interior birds. It has very distinctive markings in a beautiful pattern on the head, wings, and breast.
The Song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) is a medium-sized New World sparrow. Among the native sparrows in North America, it is easily one of the most abundant, variable and adaptable species. Regardless of variations, it is a most plain but beautiful with different songs in California, Washington, Oregon and other states. The most telling markers are the bird's breast feathers with one prominent black mark in the center. I always try for that marker but, as you can see with yesterday's upload, I don't always succeed. (I call these markers, "arrowheads" because as with the Fox sparrow, that is their shape.)
We found this one and five more on large aloe cactus in the median strip of the boardwalk between Monterey and Pacific Grove, where a million Monarch butterflies land at the end of the last leg of one of their major migrations.
Tomorrow, Chipping or Lark, I haven't decided.
Sparrows of the West #8 - Coastal Song Sparrow 4469
View large to see eye-bar and markers down the body from there. One more song sparrow to visit. I have noticed that the Song sparrows I've found in Monterey, Elkhorn Slough, and Big Sur have much deeper browns, almost a copper on the wings and face. These are much more brown-black on interior birds. It has very distinctive markings in a beautiful pattern on the head, wings, and breast.
The Song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) is a medium-sized New World sparrow. Among the native sparrows in North America, it is easily one of the most abundant, variable and adaptable species. Regardless of variations, it is a most plain but beautiful with different songs in California, Washington, Oregon and other states. The most telling markers are the bird's breast feathers with one prominent black mark in the center. I always try for that marker but, as you can see with yesterday's upload, I don't always succeed. (I call these markers, "arrowheads" because as with the Fox sparrow, that is their shape.)
We found this one and five more on large aloe cactus in the median strip of the boardwalk between Monterey and Pacific Grove, where a million Monarch butterflies land at the end of the last leg of one of their major migrations.
Tomorrow, Chipping or Lark, I haven't decided.