060124. Muskogee Edition, Birding Today

https://www.muskogeephoenix.com/columns/birding-today-hooked-on-book-minute-its-received/article_1eabc124-1de7-11ef-8037-d31810ee080f.html 

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

Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: Lincoln's Sparrow

Often a mild winter resident of Oklahoma in dense thickets and overgrown fields, some of the Lincoln's Sparrows are already moving in from northern US and Boreal Forest breeding grounds.  These sparrows tend to like grassy patches around trees and brush near water sources.  Generally solitary, they will mix with other flocks of sparrows.

This streaked brown and buff sparrow clearly shows malted-milk sides with a black streaked breast and white belly and throat.  The buffy mustache stripe is bordered with brown lines.  The crest commonly moves up and down when the bird is intrigued or alarmed, but is not a clear delineator of the species.

The medium sized sparrow is not as dainty as it appears and is a skulker.  It often is missed in migration, so tune your ears to its sound.  Pishing will draw it out, but never do that to any bird in the winter so they may conserve energy when they need it the most.

                                                               Lincoln's Sparrow
                                                         Boomer Lake Park, Winter 2017

This New World sparrow covers most of North and Central America in subalpine woods,  thickets, and even subarctic streams, fens, swamps, wet meadows, and mountain meadows of the western US.  Alders, willows, spruce, tamarack and thick ground vegetation will draw it within.

If one hears the characteristic double scratch of a sparrow, look carefully for the source on the ground, as it could well be the shy migrant.  Flitting from one spot to another,  Lincoln's will incessantly chip when faced with an intruder's approach.

Enjoying grasses, weeds, insects, seeds, grains, and invertebrates, they can be expected in September or October as migrants.  Expect it for Christmas Bird Count if in the appropriate area in Oklahoma.

This bird was named by John James Audubon for his friend, Thomas Lincoln of Dennysville, Maine.  It was originally called Tom's Finch after the man that shot it for Audubon.

Don't Allow History to Repeat Itself with the Loss of More Birds

www.heraldcourier.com/community/columnists/stevens/america-s-lost-parakeet-remains-symbol-of-need-to-protect/article_1a83e256-119c-11e8-b609-6fa2f8906a69.html