Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: Harris's Sparrow

This is the largest sparrow in the US with a pink bill, white belly and the adult has a strikingly lovely black face and throat.  One of the easiest sparrows to identify, and a common Oklahoma winter bird, this is just a small part of the inclusive Great Plains wintering venues.  While here during the coldest of the seasons, it will be in brushy areas, near riparian corridors at woodland edges and will sometimes be in the presence of Dark-eyed Juncos, Song, White-throated, or White-crowned Sparrows.

This beautiful bird was named after Edward Harris, an amateur ornithologist, by none other than Audubon, who did not realize that this same bird was named by Thomas Nuttall.  It was designated by him as the Mourning Finch.

Harris's usually sings from a high perch, which will immediately differentiate it from the also wintering area Lapland Longspur, which stays strictly on the ground and shows rufous greater coverts.  The migrant sparrow will usually arrive in the Great Plains as early as late October, but most commonly in November or December, then depart in late February for northern areas as high as the Grand Boreal Forest.

                                                                Harris's Sparrow
                                                          Boomer Lake Park, 2016

These ground feeders will forage for seeds and leftover fruit while they are visiting our grassland ecological regions.  The males will still retain some dominance even during the winter, and it will be noted that the eldest males have the largest facial masks and bibs and are most at home exercising their authority over females and younger males.

Not as frequent a visitor to feeders as some winter sparrows, it will investigate human food sources on the edges of town.  It can be drawn in with protective brush piles, and its sheer size will help it to stand out among the other sparrows, as it will often show itself in the open.   Since this is the only songbird that breeds just in Canada, its range is becoming somewhat restricted, possibly due to logging and degradation of soil caused by fire.

Our own George Miksch Sutton found the first nest of Harris's Sparrow in Manitoba in 1931.

A gathering of Harris's Sparrows is collectively called a poll.

Learn Sparrows with Photos:

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2015/12/sparrowing-along.html

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2017/04/a-little-action-between-purple-martins.html