#LeConte's Sparrow

[weremars]

happy new year

[speakingofnature]

LeConte's Sparrow

The LeConte's Sparrow is a seldom-seen, uncommon migrant only found in Iowa during migration. It was a pleasure to find this one today.

[rabbitcruiser]

World Sparrow Day

World Sparrow Day, observed annually on March 20, is a day to raise awareness of the protection of sparrows. We are particularly excited about this holiday because we just can’t resist the cuteness of these little birds and we know at the end of this article, you will be as excited to join too.

History of World Sparrow Day

World Sparrow Day is an initiative started by the Nature Forever Society of India (founded by Mohammed Dilawar) along with the Eco-Sys Action Foundation of France and many other organizations around the world. Though the holiday carries the name Sparrow, it was mainly created for awareness of Sparrows but also includes the beauty and biodiversity of other common birds that may share the same space as us.

Mohammed Dilawar, a dedicated conservationist, started the campaign to provide special care for house Sparrows in Nashik. The idea to make the campaign official was born during an informal discussion at the office of the Nature Forever Society. Thereafter, the first World Sparrow Day was observed in 2010 all around the world.

It created a platform for bird conservationists to network and exchange ideas to improve conservation. It aims to provide a point of contact for people around the world to come together and create awareness of the necessity for the protection of common biodiversity or species of lower conservation.

Sparrows or house sparrows have been known to live in green patches and backyards chirping away in urban areas though, during the harsh summers, they require cool shades and water. They’ve always been quite common in residential areas but are currently on the verge of extinction due to noise pollution, lack of nesting sites in modern buildings, pesticide usage, and non-availability of food as reported by ornithologists.

The awareness created led to the house sparrow becoming the state bird of  Delhi in 2012.

As the years go by, more people are joining the campaign to conserve these birds as a way of giving back to nature. Some have gone as far as creating bird nests for sparrows and other common, birds in the community.

World Sparrow Day timeline

1863 Introduction of the House Sparrow

The house sparrow is introduced into America, parts of Africa, Australia, and New Zealand from this time, such that it is now the most widespread urban bird in the world.

2008 Heroes of the Environment

The founder of the Nature Forever Society, Mohammed Dilawar is named one of the ‘Heroes of the Environment.’

2012 State Bird of Delhi

The efforts of the Nature Forever Society, a conservationist group, lead to the declaration of the house sparrow as the state bird of Delhi.

2019 I Love Sparrows

The theme for World Sparrow Day in 2019 is ‘I Love Sparrows.’

World Sparrow Day FAQs

Why is World Sparrow Day celebrated?

It is a day celebrated to raise awareness and protect the common house sparrows.

What does a sparrow symbolize?

The sparrow symbolizes simplicity, creativity, community, power, and empowerment. The sparrows are not independent birds but they are neither needy nor desperate.

Are sparrows the smartest birds?

Sparrows are smart and sharp birds but research has shown that parrots and the corvid family of crows, ravens, and jays are considered the smartest species.

How to Observe World Sparrow Day

Care for a sparrow

Organize walks and hikes

Create awareness about sparrows

Make nests, put water for sparrows during the summer season, and put bird feeders in gardens or any open area to protect the adorable bird. They’ll surely appreciate it.

Organize a sparrow-watching trip with your family and friends, feed the birds, take pictures to document, and create beautiful stickers or posters. You can create beautiful memories on this day.

Host a sparrow event and organize teachings that create awareness and enlighten people about sparrows. Also have entertainment like sparrow poetry, a photography contest, and a sparrow treasure hunt.

5 Interesting Facts About Sparrows

Once upon a time in Britain

A movement to the grain fields

The first day in the world

Sparrow Awards

Making of the World Sparrow Day

Sparrows were once one of Britain’s most common birds, however, their population has declined in recent years.

Although house sparrows are non-migratory birds, the urban flock had traditionally moved to the countryside to feed on ripening grain fields.

The first World Sparrow Day was celebrated in 2010 in different parts of the world.

The Nature Forever Society instituted the first Sparrow Awards in March 2011 to encourage the efforts made towards the cause and to selflessly conserve the environment.

The idea to mark World Sparrow Day came up during a discussion at the N.F.C’s office where the idea was to earmark a day for the conservation of the house sparrow and other common birds.

Why World Sparrow Day is Important

It’s a day to admire nature’s beauty

It is a time to spread  awareness on biodiversity conservation

It is a fun event

World Sparrow Day is a day to celebrate the conservation and protection of sparrows. It is also a day to admire the beauty of biodiversity and nature.

This day provides a meeting ground for people from different parts of the world to come together and play an important role in advocacy and spreading awareness of the need of conserving common biodiversity. We love this!

Various kinds of campaigns, events, and activities are organized on this day to encourage people to participate and contribute to the cause. See what you can do to help!

Source

[cereovo]

Winter exchange pic for @weremars - her birdsona birding!!

[whatsthebird]

What's the Bird?

Location: Maine USA

Date: May

We ask that discussion under questions be limited to how you came to your conclusion, not what your conclusion was.

Happy Birding!

Keep the game alive! Submit a bird HERE

Little Bird graciously submitted by April Fool

[sock-ness-monster]

Can yall believe it's been like a year since I posted on here. I got really into birdwatching. Sparrows are my favorite. Here are some I've seen. Not all of these pictures are good but they are all mine.

In order,

Swamp, Chipping, Lincoln's, Savannah, Field, LeConte's, White-throated, White-crowned, Song, and Vesper Sparrows

[barry-kent-mackay]

Grasshopper Sparrow (upper left), Henslow’s Sparrow (mid-right), Baird’s Sparrow (lower left) and LeConte’s Sparrow. This is from the National Geographic series, but the ones that went into the books as well as the magazine and since they were painted around the same time, I presume, you can see how much more effort Brooks put into the native birds. He did not get them quite as accurately as he might have done, but again this was before there was the amount of information available that we find now. I love the way he implied habitat for each of them.

art by major allan brooks

text by barry kent mackay

support barry kent mackay on ko-fi

[cgasue]

Rainy River Experience (Part 2)

Until I began this Big Year, I never considered going to Rainy River in northern Ontario and now I have been there twice in the past two months! Jim and I made plans to visit his sister who lives in Flin Flon, Manitoba in July, so since we were flying there with a stopover in Winnipeg, we thought we may as well take a few more days, rent a car and drive back over to northern Ontario to see if we could pick up another bird or two that we didn’t get in May.

It was nice to go back a second time since we already knew where all the hotspots were. We visited three sewage lagoons in the short time we were there and spent many hours driving around the back roads between Rainy River, Emo and Fort Frances, Ontario.

Our first surprise was that the Walla Walla Inn and the Harris Hill Resort in Rainy River were all booked up and we were only able to get one night’s accommodation at the Inn in Emo. I could understand this in May during prime birding season but in July?? I asked someone what was going on and found out that there is a lot of construction going on in this end of northern Ontario and the rooms were being taken up by all the construction workers. Fortunately, we were able to get a couple of nights at the Copper River Inn in Fort Frances.

We flew into Winnipeg from Flin Flon on Thursday afternoon and made the five hour drive to Emo, birding along the way. Friday we got up at 4 a.m. and visited one of our favourite places in Rainy River (Wilson Creek). We were hoping to get a photo of a Yellow Rail but instead we got some beautiful photos of other birds in the golden morning sunlight.

Sedge Wren:

LeConte’s Sparrow:

From there, we drove some of the back roads stopping here and there listening for birds. We stopped along one road and listened to several Soras calling back and forth. While we were there, I looked up and couldn’t believe it - a flock of 15-20 Franklin’s Gulls were flying overhead. My target bird - yay!!

We drove down Hwy 621 to find a beach along Lake of the Woods only to find out that there was very little beach left due to the high waters. We met a wonderful lady there who told us of a great spot to see American White Pelicans that was only 10 minutes up the road. We pulled into Grassy Narrows and saw a few pelicans swimming in the river. I ran a little ahead of them to try and get a photo of them from the front and when I went around a barn, we found a ton of them!! There were at least 60-70 all swimming together. It was fun watching them take off, fly around for a bit and then come in for a landing.

From there we went to the Harris Hills Resort in the hopes of getting some better photos of the Franklin’s Gulls. We had been hoping to secure a boat ride out to Sable Island but were told that water levels were five feet higher than normal and there was barely an island left. We did see some Franklin’s Gulls there but they were so far out, I couldn’t get any photos. Luckily when we left Harris Hills Resort, we turned down a side road to get out of the way of a big truck and found a number of Franklin’s Gulls playing in the wind. We watched them for quite some time and managed to get some decent photos including several in full breeding plumage.

Although we didn’t get any new birds for the list for the remainder of the trip, we did see lots of very cool things. I thought that I had found a new bird only to discover that it was a moulting Bobolink :-)

It was also fun to visit and see the offspring of many of the birds we had seen just a couple of months before.

We turned down one road and saw a Merlin sitting on a wire. We waiting a few minutes and found four other Merlins flying about! We believe it was an adult with four juveniles. They were quite noisy and we watched them for quite some time and got some neat shots.

My favourite shot from this trip had to be the one I posted a couple of days ago with the Eastern Kingbird, a Broad-winged Hawk, and a Star-nosed Mole. I didn’t even realize what I had captured until I downloaded the photos onto my computer. I knew the hawk had some prey and I saw the smaller bird attacking him and at one time, he looked as though he was right on the hawk’s back but I was very surprised to see the golden feathers on the Kingbird’s crown as I had only seen some red feathers once before (also in Rainy River!)

I am not sure if I will ever return to Rainy River (unless I do another big year of course :-)) but I have really enjoyed both of my visits, seen lots of cool birds and taken many, many, many photographs! Certainly experiences to remember!

[uzon]

(Black-Breasted) Puffleg Hummingbird & Leconte’s Sparrow for #avianaugust patreon / twitter

[debunkshy]

LeConte’s Sparrow Anahuac NWR, TX 4-12-18

[musictherapy611]

Daily Bird: LeConte’s Sparrow

Range: central continental US

More information: here

Photo: https : // upload . wikimedia . org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/LESP-Erickson.jpg/1200px-LESP-Erickson.jpg

[weremars]

ammospiza leconteii (leconte’s sparrow)

[sargassos]

Week two, birds for avian august.

They’ll just be quick warm up sketches, I say, as I begin to spend increasingly more time on each bird.

[rabbitcruiser]

World Sparrow Day

World Sparrow Day, observed annually on March 20, is a day to raise awareness of the protection of sparrows. We are particularly excited about this holiday because we just can’t resist the cuteness of these little birds and we know at the end of this article, you will be as excited to join too.

History of World Sparrow Day

World Sparrow Day is an initiative started by the Nature Forever Society of India (founded by Mohammed Dilawar) along with the Eco-Sys Action Foundation of France and many other organizations around the world. Though the holiday carries the name Sparrow, it was mainly created for awareness of Sparrows but also includes the beauty and biodiversity of other common birds that may share the same space as us.

Mohammed Dilawar, a dedicated conservationist, started the campaign to provide special care for house Sparrows in Nashik. The idea to make the campaign official was born during an informal discussion at the office of the Nature Forever Society. Thereafter, the first World Sparrow Day was observed in 2010 all around the world.

It created a platform for bird conservationists to network and exchange ideas to improve conservation. It aims to provide a point of contact for people around the world to come together and create awareness of the necessity for the protection of common biodiversity or species of lower conservation.

Sparrows or house sparrows have been known to live in green patches and backyards chirping away in urban areas though, during the harsh summers, they require cool shades and water. They’ve always been quite common in residential areas but are currently on the verge of extinction due to noise pollution, lack of nesting sites in modern buildings, pesticide usage, and non-availability of food as reported by ornithologists.

The awareness created led to the house sparrow becoming the state bird of  Delhi in 2012.

As the years go by, more people are joining the campaign to conserve these birds as a way of giving back to nature. Some have gone as far as creating bird nests for sparrows and other common, birds in the community.

World Sparrow Day timeline

1863 Introduction of the House Sparrow

The house sparrow is introduced into America, parts of Africa, Australia, and New Zealand from this time, such that it is now the most widespread urban bird in the world.

2008 Heroes of the Environment

The founder of the Nature Forever Society, Mohammed Dilawar is named one of the ‘Heroes of the Environment.’

2012 State Bird of Delhi

The efforts of the Nature Forever Society, a conservationist group, lead to the declaration of the house sparrow as the state bird of Delhi.

2019 I Love Sparrows

The theme for World Sparrow Day in 2019 is ‘I Love Sparrows.’

World Sparrow Day FAQs

Why is World Sparrow Day celebrated?

It is a day celebrated to raise awareness and protect the common house sparrows.

What does a sparrow symbolize?

The sparrow symbolizes simplicity, creativity, community, power, and empowerment. The sparrows are not independent birds but they are neither needy nor desperate.

Are sparrows the smartest birds?

Sparrows are smart and sharp birds but research has shown that parrots and the corvid family of crows, ravens, and jays are considered the smartest species.

How to Observe World Sparrow Day

Care for a sparrow

Organize walks and hikes

Create awareness about sparrows

Make nests, put water for sparrows during the summer season, and put bird feeders in gardens or any open area to protect the adorable bird. They’ll surely appreciate it.

Organize a sparrow-watching trip with your family and friends, feed the birds, take pictures to document, and create beautiful stickers or posters. You can create beautiful memories on this day.

Host a sparrow event and organize teachings that create awareness and enlighten people about sparrows. Also have entertainment like sparrow poetry, a photography contest, and a sparrow treasure hunt.

5 Interesting Facts About Sparrows

Once upon a time in Britain

A movement to the grain fields

The first day in the world

Sparrow Awards

Making of the World Sparrow Day

Sparrows were once one of Britain’s most common birds, however, their population has declined in recent years.

Although house sparrows are non-migratory birds, the urban flock had traditionally moved to the countryside to feed on ripening grain fields.

The first World Sparrow Day was celebrated in 2010 in different parts of the world.

The Nature Forever Society instituted the first Sparrow Awards in March 2011 to encourage the efforts made towards the cause and to selflessly conserve the environment.

The idea to mark World Sparrow Day came up during a discussion at the N.F.C’s office where the idea was to earmark a day for the conservation of the house sparrow and other common birds.

Why World Sparrow Day is Important

It’s a day to admire nature’s beauty

It is a time to spread  awareness on biodiversity conservation

It is a fun event

World Sparrow Day is a day to celebrate the conservation and protection of sparrows. It is also a day to admire the beauty of biodiversity and nature.

This day provides a meeting ground for people from different parts of the world to come together and play an important role in advocacy and spreading awareness of the need of conserving common biodiversity. We love this!

Various kinds of campaigns, events, and activities are organized on this day to encourage people to participate and contribute to the cause. See what you can do to help!

Source

[queenlua]

tfw a rare bird appears in a nearby park

right when you’re rolling out a really important feature at work and can’t get away

[shalmonsdraws]

Avian August Day 14 - leconte’s sparrow!