Friday, June 6, 2014

Juvenile Song Sparrows

I was out in the garden the other day, and heard a constant chirping.  I looked up to see a Song Sparrow sitting on an old iron sculpture we have.  And then there were two!  They came and went for several minutes while I snapped some pictures, a few of my rare bird pictures where the bird is close enough to see!

They gave the impression of being two young birds just off the nest, which was in some cedars near our deck.  They made virtually no noise in the nest, but one of these must have been missing its parent bringing food, because it kept up a constant chirping for a long time.

One briefly sat on an old raspberry twig within camera range, giving me a chance for one more natural-looking picture.

I recognize the Song Sparrow mainly through its song, which is repeated frequently throughout our small neighbourhood.  But its also recognized by the cluster of dark feathers forming a spot on its breast.

I was surprised by the result of this picture, which shows quite a difference in feather patterns on the two birds.  Just natural variation, but I've never noticed a Song Sparrow with the 3 dark patches that the one on the left here has.

Linking to:
http://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.ca/

14 comments:

  1. Great snaps! Pretty little bird. Thanks for your visit to my blog.

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  2. They are so cute sitting on that metal together. I love their musical song.

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  3. What a great series of picture of the sparrows. There are so many different kinds of sparrow, I can never tell one from the other.

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  4. Nice photos! Nice when the birds cooperate.

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  5. Congrats for getting some FANTASTIC birdie shots... I love the little Sparrows... We have a similar one here, the Chipping Sparrow.

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  6. The last one looks as though they're on some sort of see-saw! A nice set of pictures; so rare when birds co-operate in that way.

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  7. Wonderful series of shots of this little birds. Have a marvelous weekend.

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  8. Cute shots of the Song Sparrows. They are pretty birds, it is great to see the young ones.. Thanks for linking up, have a happy weekend!

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  9. They're so cute!

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  10. Great shots of a wonderful, familiar bird. We have one coming to our feeders regularly - not a species we expect there.

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