070322 Muskogee Edition, Birding Today

https://www.muskogeephoenix.com/news/lifestyles/birding-today-warbler-returns-to-previous-territory/article_023d26af-d71a-568a-8f68-2802e0cc82d4.html 

041722 Muskogee Edition, Birding Today

https://www.muskogeephoenix.com/news/lifestyles/birding-today-painted-bunting-semi-common-in-coastal-southeast-south-central-u-s/article_0c982f00-f429-5ded-a42b-2054a897df73.html 

090521 Muskogee Edition, Birding Today

https://www.muskogeephoenix.com/news/lifestyles/birding-today-marsh-wrens-aggressive-with-other-birds/article_779abcc3-d8cb-5004-9a1d-d1b4cd7dc441.html 

Oklahoma Migratory Species Profile: Canada Warbler

This attractive, small warbler is uncommon within shaded deciduous undergrowth in mature forest along low, thick areas and many times along streams.

The necklaced warbler spends less time on the Boreal breeding grounds than most warblers, arriving late and leaving early.  It has also been known to breed along the Appalachians as far south as Georgia.  Due to overbrowsing by deer, deforestation, the wooly adelgid (a killer of hemlock and spruce), this passerine has been losing numbers.  In the Andes, where a large portion of these neotropical migrants overwinter, loss of habitat is hurting them on the opposite end of the spectrum.

As a strong flycatcher, it will flush insects while foraging along leaves and twigs, then darting out to catch escaped protein.  Also watch the ground, as they will forage among the leaves there,  Within dense foliage is can usually be located from a couple of feet from the ground to the higher canopies.  It will feel the effects of climate change as the years pass, and loss of forest due to clear cutting will take its toll.



               Canada Warbler
      Wikipedia/William Majoros

The male will have a darker necklace and a longer tail than the female.  They really are not dimorphic.  This passerine has thicker spectacles than most warblers, and fresh spring coloring will show a bright yellow chest, belly, and throat, as well as a dark gray back.  While nesting, they are often a Brown-headed Cowbird host.

Look carefully for the necklace, which will keep one from identifying it as a Magnolia Warbler and if there is a yellow throat, ID as a Yellow-throated Warbler.  During the fall, it is not difficult to determine the identity of this bird.  The adult male will show strong similarity to the spring male, but sometimes slightly duller with fringing upon the crown.  The female adult will have an olive cast to her upperparts, missing the black in her plumage.

Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: Brown Creeper

This small, thin brown songbird has a curved bill and creeps along on horizontal branches or upward on trunks of trees.  It is usually solitary, but is known to frequent areas with other songbirds, like chickadees, woodpeckers, kinglets, titmice, or nuthatches.

The American tree creeper is the only member in its family, and it uses its long stiff tail for balance while searching for insects within the bark of trees, where its cryptic coloration serves it well.  It has a high pitched and piercing call, tending to spiral up a tree.  It then flies back down to earth and repeats the process on the same or a different tree.

                                                                     Brown Creeper
                                                           Boomer Lake Station, 2015

Out of the breeding season, they can often be found upon deciduous trees.  The creeper enjoys mature forest with large trees, but surprisingly, is often a victim of window strikes.  The songbird is sometimes used to determine the health of a forest ecosystem by its presence.  Forest management is being changed to increase the numbers of these birds, as well as their comrades, the Marbled Murrelet and Northern Spotted Owl.

The male shares identical plumage with the female, yet he is larger.  There are gray, rufous, and brown morphs within the species, as well as three distinct subspecies.  The Mexican subspecies is found in southwest New Mexico and southeast Arizona.  Eastern birds are paler, short billed and larger, while the western birds are smaller, longer billed, and darker.  Each subspecies shares different dialects.

This neotropical migrant will winter as far south as Central America, yet many spend winters in the central part of the US.  Never expect one of these songbirds at a feeder.

They are Boreal Forest and northeastern and western breeders.

For the Brown Creeper and Species It Surrounds Itself With, See:

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-birds-say-that-spring-is-here.html

Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: Golden-crowned Kinglet

see-see-see-see-chit-chit

Even tinier than the Ruby-crowned Kinglet with a bold eye stripe and more gray-green, the Golden-crowned Kinglet is a bird of the conifers.  They tend to be in small groups in the company of Brown Creepers, chickadees and other woodland birds.

They have dark wings with two black patches beneath the second wingbar.  The only real difference between the male and the female is the color of the crown, should it be flared.  The female will show a yellow crown and the male sports red-orange in the center of his crown.

               

They can be found is a wide array of habitats, with the favorite being in the evergreens.  However, other possibilities are along tree-lined streams, in orchards, parks, lowland deciduous woodlands, as well as within the Ponderosa pine forest.

Their food includes tiny insects, spiders, sap, eggs under leaves, and they will take fruit occasionally.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Golden-crowned Kinglet

                                                                                              audubon.org

Another very energetic songbird like the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, this diminutive sprite is a Boreal Forest breeder, which usually manages two large broods (lays 8-9 eggs, sometimes as many as 11) per season, and has expanded its range to spruce-fir forests of the northern US.  Another bird expected to change its breeding habitat, to more northern regions due to climate change, this Boreal breeder usually stays high in the canopy, even in winter.  The species can handle -40 degree temperatures.

Each of the kinglet's nostrils are covered by a single feather.  Know the song, as it is difficult to observe with its constant movement, but it will respond to a pish.  However, never pish in the dead of winter, as this can cause a bird's well-being to suffer with the cold.

Kinglet is synonymous with crest.  The Golden- and Ruby-crowned Kinglets will sometimes hybridize.

Oklahoma Migratory Species Profile: Palm Warbler

This long tailed tail-pumper is a ground forager that breeds in the Boreal Forest of Canada and the northeastern US.  As breeders in the north, they will use evergreen trees and dense cover in boggy habitat.   Similar to a pipit, it can be helpful to confirm the identity with the yellow around the vent and rump as well as the white corners on the tail.  For a warbler, they are on the larger side and have a rounder belly.

Its song is a buzzy trill with a common chek call.  During fall migration, it will often be seen with kinglets, sparrows, Pine, and Yellow-rumped Warblers.  As migrants and winter birds, this songbird will be seen along forest edges, weedy fields, parks, coastal scrubland, and with scattered trees and shrubbery.  The New World Warbler is normally found in the western two thirds of the US, and is called either the Brown Palm Warbler or the Western Palm Warbler.  The Eastern Palm Warbler will be located in the eastern third of the US.

They constantly bob the tail, are on the ground more than other warblers, and are fond of berries as well as protein, sometimes being seen hawking insects if in a tree or on a shrub.  They are more at eye level or below, rather than higher canopies like many other warblers.

                                                          Western Palm Warbler
                                                         Boomer Lake Park, 2018


Palm Warblers are frequently victims of collisions with lighted towers.  It is also suspected that since the better part of these neotropical migrants breed in the Boreal Forest, they are losing population due to peat (moss) harvesting, logging, and tar sands development.

The species will use feeders if they find native plants and a good water source.

Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: Spotted Towhee

Sweet-sweet-teeeeeeaaaaa!

Larger than sparrows with a long tail, dark head, rufous flanks, and white spotting, the Spotted Towhee has several subspecies.  We have our Great Plains, the southwest has their Southwest, and the Pacific Northwest has theirs.  These are all self explanatory, and later, there will be discussion on the Eastern Towhee, which also comes to Oklahoma.

These good looking large sparrows are common in brushy habitats including the undergrowth in open forests and shrublands, but are a secretive species staying within cover.  They scratch heavily within leaf litter, seeking seeds and insects, using the two-footed method to scratch simultaneously with both feet.

Since 1995 this species was separated from the Eastern Towhee, both species once called the rufous-sided towhee.  They share a very narrow hybrid zone in the northern Great Plains.  These birds will show a white patch at the base of the primaries, and their call can be a blend of the two species or sound like either of the two, so it is imperative that one pay close attention in this part of the country.  However, bear in mind that juvenile birds can emulate a hybrid during early winter, though it is rare.

                                                                    Spotted Towhee
                                                       Mount Lemmon, AZ-- Spring 2018

As omnivores, this towhee will eat nearly anything, but during the breeding season it will eat more insects and arthropods, mainly as the young require protein for good growth.

They also have about the largest range of any towhee, found over the southern portion of the western Canadian provinces and over half of the US.  They also do not flock.

Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: Hermit Thrush

The beautiful Hermit Thrush can be identified from other spotted thrushes by its complete narrow white eye ring, as well as its contrasting reddish tail.  It chooses drier and brushier habitat than most of the other thrushes, foraging upon the ground and can generally be located in habitat similar to the Swainson's Thrush.

There are three distinct subspecies, which include the Taiga or Eastern, Interior West, and the Pacific.  The hardy Eastern birds have thicker bills with pale buffy tips on greater coverts, stocky, and brightly colored.  Interior West are pale and grayer with very limited red wash on the flight feathers.  The Pacific are more spotted than the Eastern, thinner billed than all of them, with white undertail coverts.

The voice is like that of most spotted thrushes, an ethereal flued whistle without the clear rising and falling, which is due to the syrinx, the double vocal organ at the base of the bird trachea.  The thrushes have some of the most advanced organs in the world, leading to a dual sound, much like the ability of the twelve string guitar.

                                                                   Hermit Thrush
                                                NW Corner Payne County CBC, 2017

The most hardy of the thrushes, this passerine migrates earlier in the spring and returns to its home base later in the fall in late September-October.  It is likely the only thrush to be found in most of the US in the winter.  Those that do migrate will be in flight overnight, except the Pacific Northwest, which usually remains there.  This thrush is more related to the Mexican Russet Nightingale-Thrush than to its own US family members, and usually can be found singing from a high perch.

Often found during the Christmas Bird Count, this unusual bird of never ending wonder has been described in many written works.

East of the Rockies, this bird is usually a ground nester, and West of the Rockies, it nests in trees.  This neotropical migrants finds its way as far south as Central America in the winter.

To See Interior West Hermit Thrush and Birds of Arizona:

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2018/05/birding-on-shoestring-wilds-of-arizona.html

Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: Ruby-crowned Kinglet

                                                             Courtesy Timothy Barksdale

One of the smallest birds, this nervous-appearing, constant wingflicker in continual motion possesses olive-green plumage with a pale eye ring, thin dark bill and legs with pale feet.  Often confused with a warbler, this solitary bird often joins chickadees, titmice, warblers, and other small songbirds of the wood.  When agitated or excited, the adult male will flick its bright red crown.  It also has a dark bar on the base of its secondary feathers and appears to be a warbler or a tiny flycatcher with its rapid movement.

It has a loud, complex, and highly variable confusing song, and lays the largest clutch of eggs for its size, numbering up to a dozen. This songbird breeds in the western mountains of the US and the northeast, but mainly attends nests in the Boreal Forest of Canada.  It breeds high within spruce-fir forests which lends difficulty to its breeding habits.  They do favor mixed forest and old growth habitat.  The adult male arrives first upon breeding territory and leaves last in the fall, even later than the juveniles of that season.

                                                               Ruby-crowned Kinglet
                                                      Boomer Creek Park, January 2016

In the winter, it prefers thick understory.  Having studied the species extensively in the Boomer Creek area over several years (2015-early 2018), it was found that they will readily habituate to humans.  One particular male would appear when called and was very amicable to numerous photographs, coming very close.  However when disturbed by loud traffic and other abnormal non-forest noises, it would disappear, but return quickly.  It never remained in the area longer than ten days.  Its song consisted of rapid warbles, clear notes, and whistles, lasting approximately six seconds.  Its song is so loud, one expects much larger than a four-inch bird.

The songbird enjoyed small insects and readily investigated old spider egg sacs, as well as red cedar fruit, and sally out after gnats or similar insects.

At Boomer Lake, another individual male bird was observed during the same period in 2016, which had a personality nothing like the original kinglet.  It was shy and retiring, never singing, making observation much more difficult.  It was not in the area longer than three days.

Most birds of the western part of the country will remain there, but many of the northernmost breeders will continue on to southern Mexico or slightly beyond for migration.  Oklahoma's birds can be observed for the entire winter and into early spring.

For More Photos of Ruby-crowned Kinglet, See:

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2016/01/as-cool-wind-blows-stars-come-out-of.html

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2016/01/steady-as-westerly-wind-blows.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 Migratory Species Profile: Clay-colored Sparrow

buzz-buzz

This common migratory sparrow is similar to a Chipping Sparrow, but more buffy overall and paler.
Since we will see it (as a non-breeding bird in the fall), it sports a clean gray nape, a strong dark mustache, a pale eyering, pale lores, and a buffy breastband.

As shrubland and field edge breeders, these passerines will visit Christmas tree farms and grass areas with short and scattered coniferous trees.

                                                     Clay-colored Sparrow, fall plumage
                                                              Boomer Lake Park, 2016

Wintering in southern Texas and south, as well as breeding in the north central US and the western Boreral Forest, it passes through the prairie and Great Plains states.  In the winter, if one travels to those regions, it can be found in the company of White-crowned, Brewer's, and Chipping Sparrows along upland plains, brushy hillsides, and fields.

Fond of shrubs and forbs, they will dine upon soapberry, mesquite, mustard, and spiders, small insects, as well as moths.  Brushy areas of streams and rivers can be a favored location to locate them, where they will be observed hopping under thickets.  This is a fabulous hot spot during their migratory period.

They are parasitized by the Brown-headed Cowbird during breeding season, which could be attributed to their slight population decline.

For More Clay-colored Sparrow Photos, See:

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2017/05/pre-and-post-storm-events.html

Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: Swamp Sparrow

pete-pete-pete-pete-pete, chip! or  Zeeeeeeee!

Common at pond edges or in wet marshes around cattails, shrubs, prairies, salt marshes, or grass, the Swamp Sparrow can be found in old fields or other wet areas during times of migration.  They will mix with the Song Sparrow, and usually stay low under thick cover.  Do not expect this bird at your feeders, though stranger things have happened.

The throat is usually unstreaked and there are blurred streaks upon the buffy gray breast, and a light belly with solid rufous wing coverts.  Even though it has a red crown, its bulky build should not suggest a Chipping Sparrow, as it rarely comes out in the open and stays within a different habitat.  Remember GISS, general impression, shape, and size as a rule for sparrows.  Also note that is has gray cheeks and eyebrows, another defining characteristic from the chippie.  Northern and western birds are lighter in color than the eastern and southern birds.

                                                                  Swamp Sparrow
                                                           Boomer Lake Park, 2015

These songbirds breed in boreal Canada, as well as northern and eastern parts of the US.  Wintering in the eastern part of the country, they make their way to Oklahoma frequently, as well as south to Mexico.

If one is able to photograph the bird, note its longer legs than most sparrows.  This enables it to forage in shallow water.  They usually begin their song early in the day and can even be heard during a nicely moonlit night.

Numbers have been declining in parts of its range, naturally due to loss of habitat, as well as degradation and ill health of its favored waterways.

This bird will clearly be expanding north in its ranges, most notably for winter limits.

Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: Vesper Sparrow

Half the state will see the Vesper Sparrow as a winter resident (in the southern half) and the northern half will see it as a migrant.

As a short grass prairie breeder it often perches on barbed wire or small trees, not mixing with other sparrow species in the Northern US and Canada.  In the winter, it can be found in loose flocks upon agricultural fields or dry and sparsely vegetated pastures.  It is best to look for them in full song at that time, as they are at their least shy during the breeding season.

Rarely observed, it has a small red shoulder patch, thin white eyering, flashes white outer tail feathers while in flight, and sings a sweet series of trills within the vespers of twilight.

They will quickly settle in abandoned farm fields and old mines as they revert to their forest stature.

These ground dwellers and nesters scratch upon the ground and take frequent dust baths.  After the breeding season, they will migrate south and forage with mixed sparrow species that include Brewer's, Savannah, and Grasshopper Sparrows, as well as the Lark Bunting.

                                                                  Vesper Sparrow
                                                          Boomer Lake Park, 2015

Populations are declining to some degree due to likely loss of grassland habitat, frequent mowing of fields, early harvest, and hedgerow removal.  Certain populations could become threatened or endangered due to this continued activity in the eastern ranges, but in general, they are still a species of low concern.  They enjoy meadows with open soil, stubble fields, and grassy areas above sandy beaches.

They are rather early spring migrants and return later in the fall.  They usually have been peaking in May and October.

Oklahoma Irruptive Species Profile: Red-breasted Nuthatch

yank-yank-yank-yank-yank

One of the smallest songbirds with the classic steel-blue upperparts and orange breast and belly, the Red-breasted Nuthatch is either in your face at feeders, or a distant tease with that nasal call.

A few Oklahoma residents are already predicting  an invasion, which may or may not come to pass, but if food is scarce for them already in the northern hinterlands, they could be getting interested in the Great Plains as a possible range expansion vector.

Known for a strong interest in the spruce budworm, this nuthatch can almost smell them for their weight in gold.  During the massive budworm infestation of the 1970s in the Boreal Forest wildness, a change was created in forestry over a ten year period that still lasts today with irruptive migrant behavior.  Tied in with this species, it also includes the Evening Grosbeak, Black-capped Chickadee, both crossbills, Pine Siskin and more on the tail end of the phenomena.  This will be discussed in the next section.  For more information, see:  https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2018/10/long-term-effects-regarding-late-1960s.html

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Wikipedia

The species has already increased its range in a southward moving by nesting in ornamental conifers, especially in mature forest, which is required for nesting sites in decaying wood.  Like its white-breasted cousin and others, this nuthatch is known for hitching backward down trees.

The future of this bird over the next several decades to half century will be in a northerly direction.  However, areas with conifers will always win out, be it north or south.  Therefore, there will be much more range loss in summer than in the winter.

Known for its friendless and lack of fear toward humans, if one stands still in its favored zone, it will come quite close.

Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: Song Sparrow

One of the most welcome sounds that I hope to hear for winter to bring cheer, is that of the Song Sparrow atop a bush or small tree.  Common to brushy areas near water, this ubiquitous sparrow is often found with several of its species in loose groups, as well as with the Dark-eyed Junco.

Several subspecies across the country are known, including the Eastern, which is also the bird of Oklahoma, Aleutian, Southwest, California Coast, and Pacific Northwest, all self-explanatory. Many of these birds are actually intergrades, with a wide latitude on streaking.  There is really no audible variation among any of them.

In Oklahoma, most likely the first streaky and robust bird of winter that you see is the Song Sparrow, and memorizing the voice in the above video will seal the deal.  The bill is semi-conical with wide breast streaking with a central "stickpin" in the midst of the breast and flesh-toned legs.  They will often visit feeders.

                                                                    Song Sparrow
                                                        Boomer Lake Park, March 2015

The Song Sparrow enjoys a number of habitats as a generalist including wet meadows, lakes, thickets, forest edges, bushy marsh margins, parks, roadsides, gardens, salt marshes, etc.  It will scratch upon the ground for seeds, and usually flies low to the ground.

Its beautiful song increases with the advent of spring and tends to be variable and quite complex at times, but very familiar.  Many birds in the northern section of its range will be migratory, but some will rely upon bird feeders.  These insectivores will also eat fruit and seeds all year.  They will usually dine upon whatever is available no matter where they are found, insuring the success of the species.

They can be a victim of the Brown-headed Cowbird, but they are quite resilient with an uncanny ability to raise their own as well as that of the obligate brood parasite.  The Song Sparrow also has the most numerous subspecies in the US.

Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: White-throated Sparrow

Poor Sam, Peabody, Peabody, Peabody or
My Sweet Canada, Canada, Canada 

Many times near openings in openings in mixed woods, along brushy understory, or woodland edges, this classic sparrow has a powerful song for such a small bird.  A stocky and dark brown-red sparrow, the gray breast is either understreaked or coarsely mottled.

The offset white throat has sharp delineation and the yellow lores are another identification point.

Attracting this beautiful songster to a feeder will  not be difficult if it is near a thicket for rapid cover.

This late fall migrater can be a slow mover to its southern sources and moves mostly at night.  The tan striped supercilium (eyebrow) adult is more drab and the white striped supercilium adult is more brightly colored.  Oddly, one of each tends to make a pair and it has been noted in studies that the white-striped adult is the more aggressive.

                                                             White-throated Sparrow
                                                           Boomer Creek Park, 2015

This ground forager enjoys fall berries and in the winter likes grass and weed seeds.  A good way to be attractive to the species is to have an unmowed section of back yard for its feeding pleasure.  Wintering birds are most common in the south and east and not difficult to find in Oklahoma and as far west as the Pacific coast, especially when it belts out song.

Mostly a Canadian breeder, this bird is very susceptible to window strikes and is a prey choice of many smaller raptors.

Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: Harris's Sparrow

Uncommon and local, the wintering flock chooses brushy areas around riparian corridors near water.  The species tends to mix well with other sparrows and stands out for its size as our largest sparrow.

Adult songbirds have a lovely color, including the characteristic white face and belly, as well as light gray or brown cheeks.  Only breeding in central Northern Canada in the Nunavet and Northwest Territories of the Boreal Forest, this sparrow is definitely one to be noticed, with the pink bill setting off its good looks.

As a lover of the grassland ecology, it is no surprise that this perching bird chooses to winter in the southern Great Plains through central Texas with open woods and brush piles, as well as the edges of bordering states.  Harsh weather tends to force them from the prairie provinces of Canada.

                                                                Harris's Sparrow
                                                          Boomer Lake Park 2016

Named by John James Audubon after amateur American ornithologist and naturalist Edward Harris, its song will usually be carried from a high perch.  They are expected to arrive in the Great Plains commonly through the month of November and early December, though early migrants have been recorded.  It will sometimes visit feeders for outstanding views of its countenance.  A group of Harris's Sparrows is known as a poll.

Immature birds will show a brown striped head, with a more orange toned bill.  This species will likely be affected by climate change due to logging, fires, and soil change on the breeding grounds, which will influence its preferred brushy habitat.

This bird only breeds in Canada, and is only native there and in the US.

Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: Red Fox Sparrow

The Red (Taiga) Fox Sparrow is the most brightly colored Fox Sparrow that winters in Oklahoma.
It comes to the southern Great Plains area around October to mid-November and stays until early April, when it goes back north for breeding purposes.  It is widespread locally over the entire state except the Panhandle, which is lacking in brush and trees.

Associates of many other wintering sparrows, they are also ground foragers, as backward scratchers within leaf litter seeking insects, fruit, and seeds, similar to towhee behavior.

This large sparrow is the most prolific of all of the Fox Sparrows with the largest swath of migratory and breeding range, especially in the Boreal Forest.  Depending upon the races or forms, their coloration can vary from foxy red to dark brown to gray.

                                                          Red (Taiga) Fox Sparrow
                                                         Boomer Creek Park, 2015

Out of the breeding zone, these are generally solitary birds, occasionally in small groups.  Their distribution has changed somewhat due to human proclivities involving logging and both natural and set fire regimes.  Both of these create a heavy understory, which this bird finds very appealing.

This stocky sparrow is larger than the Song Sparrow and more brightly colored.  Sometimes confused with the Hermit Thrush, it has a much different GISS (general impression, shape, and size) and coloration will not change with the season.

It is a long- to short-distance migrant, whereby the Alaskan population may go as far southeast as Florida.  The Sierra Nevada subspecies is an altitudinal migrater, and the remainder are more of a short distance mover.

As can be seen thus far in the winter bird profiles on sparrows, this will be another easy sparrow to identify.

Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: White-crowned Sparrow

more, more, more cheezies

This common bird has dialects all over the country to denote where it is from.  These birds are observed in the winter in Oklahoma in brushy or weedy areas.  They will feed in flocks on the ground and when disturbed, will all fly back to cover.  Our adult East Taiga subspecies has a pink bill and white head stripes.

A Boreal Forest breeder, as well as portions of western states, these sparrows are resident in most of the southern US.  Gambel's sparrow enjoys shrubby and woody thickets, as well as hedgerows, forest parks, and gardens in many open areas.  Because of its wide range and distribution, it is often seen, especially during migratory events in the same areas.

                                                      East Taiga White-crowned Sparrow
                                                              Boomer Lake Park, 2015
Just like most sparrows, the white-crowned hops and scratches, but will sometimes hawk for insects in flight.

The undulating flight with alternate flapping is a characteristic of many birds like this one.  This sparrow can show a strong preference for certain territories and be within a flock of a dozen to four dozen birds in winter, especially in agricultural fields and back yards.  They can be attracted by brush piles and sunflower seeds if you'd like to see more of them.

They prefer seeds, buds, and berries, and like most breeding birds base their diet upon protein sources in spring and summer.

Most of this species migrates at night.  The northern and mountain region subspecies are strongly migratory, with the Pacific birds usually resident to their region.  Alaskan birds are known for orange bills and the Pacific coast birds have yellow bills, while the remainder share the pink bill, including the Rocky Mountain subspecies.

The Gambel's sparrow is very familiar to the eastern and mountain subspecies, but will not have black lores, yet the bill is more orange.  Nuttall's sparrow is a very regional non-migratory coastal bird of the Pacific, restricted to parkland and restored scrub.

Known for the short series of clear whistles followed directly by buzzy tones, it gets easier to tell when they are in the area if one enjoys birding by ear.  Once the GISS (general impression, shape, and size) is learned, one should have no trouble picking out young birds, who have brown as opposed to black head markings.  The bill is just as short and the tail is just as long in comparison to an adult.