Spring Birds - Sparrows and Finches

Well........ Finally.... I did do my 'Spring has Sprung' series of posts, and if you thought that was mostly all the birds I saw that Spring, you would be wrong. I saw many many other birds that I haven't documented on my blog yet. I was hoping to do this quite a while ago, I had most of the pictures re-sized and cropped already, I just kind of forgot I had them all ready. Well, as you are reading this we should be driving to Thompson where we will take the train to Churchilll. I put this post so it automatically post at a set time and date, as I will do for my other 'Spring Birds' posts, over the duration we are gone to Churchill, so you won't get bored. :D I will be doing several posts all on different families that come by in the spring. And for a hint of which families the next posts will have, I have the pictures all ready for: Raptors, Warblers, Woodpeckers, and I hope to have quite a few more families.
So this is the first post of the complete overview of the birds I saw this spring, I decided to start off with sparrows and finches, because they are one of the first to arrive, juncos, Purple Finches, White-throated Sparrows, ect...

So here are the sparrows I saw this spring!


White-crowned Sparrows were quite common, but elusive to the camera, finally one day, while I was sitting still in a chair close to the bird feeder, I was able to get these amazing photos.

White-crowned Sparrow, I love contrast between the bright grass and the bird

White-crowned Sparrow looking directly at the camera

Portrait

 At that same time there was a Harris' Sparrow, and I got amazing pictures of that also, :D

Harris' Sparrow

 Harris's Sparrow eating seeds

"Nom nom nom nom, yummy seed shells."

 Also two common sparrows were, Chipping Sparrows and American Tree Sparrows, those two birds that look really similar! I saw an American Tree Sparrow once last year at Oak Hammock Marsh

Chipping Sparrow (left) American Tree Sparrow (right)

 Here's a nice picture of an American Tree Sparrow (except for the jutting bird feeder pole)

I got some pictures of a Fox Sparrow that I really liked, this is through a window.

"Nom nom nom, I love sunflowers"

 Song Sparrows were constantly singing this spring, so much you just ignored it, it was just the ambience of our yard.

Song Sparrow

 Lincoln's  Sparrows were also fairly common, but I couldn't find a picture of one for this post!! I knew I took a picture of one though, so after looking through Recycle Bin I finally found a picture! I don't know why I deleted it, probably an accident.

Lincoln's Sparrow

 Whenever you went into a field, you would here the Savannah Sparrow singing heartily, actually, not really, their songs are fairly quiet.

Savannah Sparrow singing

 And the well known Dark-eyed Junco, it's funny how some birds are so exciting to see for the first time of the year, but soon you couldn't care less and are looking for other birds as they overrun your bird feeders. Juncos are a perfect example of that. But still, they are pretty birds and I wouldn't miss a chance to get a good picture of one (providing there are no rarer birds to take a picture of)

Dark-eyed Junco

 White-throated Sparrows are another example of this, but still, they are such nice looking birds, I am always looking for another picture of them.

Clay-coloured Sparrows made of about 75% of the birds below our feeder at one point in the year, Chipping Sparrows and a few others made up the rest. I really like there buzzy songs, it reminds me of walking through fields or roads in the neighbourhood looking for birds on a humid day.

Clay-coloured Sparrow

 Here is a good picture for comparison of a White-crowned and White-throated Sparrow.

White-crowned Sparrow and White-throated Sparrow

 And to finish it off, a beautiful picture of a Chipping Sparrow I took I really love the rustic looking bright red chair with the yellowish background, the only thing that could make it better is if the pipe in the background wasn't there, I could probably erase it with GIMP if I wanted though.

Chipping Sparrow

There aren't too many finches around our feeders, only Purple and Goldfinches.

Purple Finch

Purple finch cocking head

 We saw some House Finches in Ontario

House Finch

House Sparrows are more closely related to finches than sparrows.

House Sparrow in Ontario

 And these bright birds, often mistaken for wild canaries, the American Goldfinch, they are one of the most common birds around our feeders in the Summer.

American Goldfinch

So stay tuned!!! There is still lots more to come!!! My next post will be at 10:30 (Winnipeg time) tomorrow morning,