With snowfall predicted all of today, I didn’t want to risk getting moisture into my camera during a walk.
Instead, I had a look at my sparrow photographs over the last few years and decided to put together this guide to their identification.
SONG SPARROW
Easily the most commonly seen and heard of the sparrows. (House Sparrows are not true sparrows):
Note the heavy breast streaks which converge into a large central spot.
This central spot completes a triangle with the dark blotches on each side of the throat.
SWAMP SPARROW
The Swamp Sparrow has a reddish cap,
a white throat patch
and rather reddish wings and tail.
FIELD SPARROW
The Field Sparrow has a clear breast,
a rusty cap
and a pink bill.
LINCOLN SPARROW
The Lincoln’s Sparrow is similar to the Song Sparrow but the side of the face is grayer.
The breast streaks are finer and do not aggregate into a central spot.
Note the band of creamy buff across the breast.
FOX SPARROW
The Fox Sparrow has rufous tail.
The rusty combined with gray about the neck gives the bird its foxy look.
SAVANNAH SPARROW
My grandfather told me that this is the most common farmer’s field bird in Canada. Despite this, I have few photos of it as I am seldom near this habitat.
It has a whitish crown stripe and a yellowish eyebrow stripe.
CHIPPING SPARROW
The Chipping Sparrow is a small gray-breasted sparrow.
Note the black line through the eye and a white line over it.
AMERICAN TREE SPARROW
The Tree Sparrow has a solid red-brown cap,
a dark spot on the breast
and the bill is dark above and yellow below.
CLAY-COLOURED SPARROW
The Clay-coloured Sparrow is plain-breasted,
has a light crown stripe
and a sharply outlined ear patch.
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW
The White-crowned Sparrow has a clear grayish breast,
and a puffy crown striped with black and white.
The bill is pink.
In migration we see the juvenile which has a brownish head stripe.
WHITE-THROATED SPARROW
The White-throated Sparrow is gray breasted,
has a white throat
and a yellow spot between the eye and the bill.
There is also a tan-coloured version of this sparrow.
Miles Hearn
Thanks, Miles. This is a very useful identification guide.
I did not know that house sparrows are not true sparrows.
Wow! So many varieties! Great pictures. And so very informative! Thanks, Miles!
When the right time comes, I would love to see you do the same with Warblers (I hope I got the right spelling, here!)
WOW! Great posting. Will help with my ” species unknown” photographs of sparrows:).
Thank you!!!
Ruth
Miles,
Brilliant compendium. For years I have struggled to identify the distinctions. I shall bot print this out and keep it in the cloud as a permanent reference!
Bill
Wonderful to have, Miles. I hope you’ll do the same sometime there are two other crummy days — on local shorebirds and hawks! Thank you!
Wow, thanks Miles. I really enjoyed seeing all the varieties
of sparrows. Being able to expand each photo made it easier to see the specific features you pointed out. Hope you are able to do this for some other birds.
Many thanks Miles. This is one for my permanent collection. And thank you for keeping us on our toes re plants during this long drought.
Thanks Miles, very helpful. I have never seen several of these that I know of; Fox, Clay coloured, Savannah . Your guide helped me positively ID a small flock of American Tree Sparrows I saw in Kirby last week.
Beth Binnington
Thanks for the great pictures and descriptions of our sparrows.
Very interesting.
this was a great idea,Miles…..so many beautiful types….and,it is all in the detail!!!! so,if the house sparrow is NOT a sparrow…..what is he then?????? would really like to know…..thank you