Savannah Sparrow

 Savannah Sparrow 4-14-14

On April 14 I had my first Savannah Sparrow in the yard. It showed up at the edge of the driveway underneath the spruce tree where I throw a cheap mixed seed on the ground every morning. I have seen it almost every day since then. You can tell it is a Savannah Sparrow and not a Song Sparrow by the fine streaks on its breast and yellow lores on its head. This little bird was not shy and hopped right out into the open where I sat at my outdoor table drinking tea and watching birds. I never thought I would have a Savannah Sparrow as a yard bird!

Many of the streaky sparrows have streaks that gather into a central breast spot, including Song Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Lincoln’s Sparrow, and Fox Sparrow, so you must look beyond the central beast spot for other clues to identification. Only Savannah has these yellow lores. The lores are the feathered area between the eyes and the beak. However, just to keep things tricky, there is a large-billed sub-species with little to no yellow on its head! Yeah, sparrow I.D. is definitely a challenge, but I sure enjoy these birds!

 

Today is the last day of National Poetry Month. I regret that I was not able to participate like I did last year but I did write and post a few poems. Some were written long ago but a couple are new poems and today’s poem I wrote just today. So, if you are interested, just click on the link and come on over to

Kathie’s Poet Tree!