Sparrows In The Snow!
Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
The snowy weekend didn’t do much for traveling on Westport roads, but it created some wonderful photographic opportunities of these beautiful visitors at our feeders.
While the strikingly beautiful Northern Cardinal gets much of the attention in photographs, especially in winter when the brilliant red plumage contrasts so beautifully against winter’s snowy, white backdrop, many forget how beautiful the Sparrows are.
One of the more prolific bird species, there are nearly 140 varieties worldwide, with about 33 species in the U.S. One of the prettier species is the White-throated Sparrow (above, left) which has black and white stripes on the head and vibrant patches of yellow just above the nostrils and eyes. Next is the song sparrow which can be heard singing its song frequently, especially in summer. The mostly brown sparrow may possibly be a female house sparrow, although many several varieties look quite similar. Bottom right is likely a male house sparrow.
A group of Sparrows is known as a “host.” More about sparrows can be found at: BirdWatchingDaily.
As mentioned above, few winter scenes would be complete without the Northern Cardinal. The male and female are shown above with the snow falling around them as they waited for their turn at the feeders.
Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.