Chipping Sparrow
Like many backyards across the US, ours has an abundance of chipping sparrows flitting about. (Did you know that a grouping of them is called a “tournament?” Interesting.) With his bright rufous cap, black stripe and white eyebrow, this appears to be a breeding male as their coloring appears duller in non-breeding seasons. “In 1929, Edward Forbush called the Chipping Sparrow ‘the little brown-capped pensioner of the dooryard and lawn, that comes about farmhouse doors to glean crumbs shaken from the tablecloth by thrifty housewives.'” Source: Cornell Ornithology Lab Although populations are on the decline, probably due to habitat loss, their high-pitched single-noted song, often heard from the tops of trees, is a familiar sound of summer. As they tend to eat a lot of crawling insects during the breeding season, they are quite welcome in my garden!
This fountain sees a lot of birdie action during the summer
Hiding in the primroses (I can see you!)
I love those little sparrows! Plus, your bluebirds are definitely going to stay!
PS
I bet I am not your only reader – but for sure I am your biggest fan! (Or at the very least .. the fan that has known you the longest!)
Yay! I think you ARE my biggest fan, and I yours! I do hope those bluebirds come back…but they disappeared again to their birdie convention or wherever it is they go to discuss important business. I did have a chickadee try to squeeze his way into a decorative birdhouse the other day so I removed it from the garden, lest he get himself in a sticky predicament.
We had some birdhouses someone made that chickadees were trying to get into – so we took them down and made bigger holes. Not sure if they came back though. Maybe they were just apartment shopping.
Love your chocolate bunny!
🙂 🙂 🙂