Now that the weather's nice & it stays light later in the evening, we usually take Holly for a walk up the street after supper. Tonite we saw this little white bird in the front yard of one of our neighbors. I thought it might have been a goldfinch, but of course, I didn't have binocs or camera along to make a positive ID.
We hurried home so I could grab my camera and binocs all the while hoping that this bird would still be there......and after a few anxious minutes, it showed up again!
I was still thinking it was a goldfinch, until her amorous mate showed up -- a handsome Chipping Sparrow. Mystery solved! We watched the two of them fly down to the lawn, pick up some grasses and fly over to a small evergreen shrub right by the neighbor's house.
It was so amazing to see this special little sparrow. I'm not sure if it would be categorized as leucistic or partially albinistic. I'll share these photos with some real "bird experts" I know and see what they have to say.
I hope we get additional chances to see this bird and that it raises a nice little family, although walking back home, we saw 3 homeowners on this same street all outside spraying toxic chemicals on their lawns. :-(
I wish I could invite this Chipping Sparrow couple over to my yard where I know it's safe.......
9 comments:
I never would have guessed that was a chipping sparrow being so light colored. Hope you do get to see it some more.
Cool sighting, great pic's. I would not have known it was a chipping sparrow.
Take a look in your bird book at the female McKay's Bunting. The male sort of looks like a sparrow, but that really looks like the female. The other day in our yard I saw what looked sort of like a sparrow, yet not really. I was about to get out my binoculars when I saw a red-winged swoop down and mate with it! I looked it up and realized the female is pretty ugly compared to the colorful male!
Ooops. Red-winged black-bird.
Thanks for the photos. And BTW, I bought two of those Alpaca nesting balls I read about in an earlier post of yours. One for me and one for my sister's b-day. They are beautiful!!
A pox on those neighbors who are not taking nature seriously or giving nary a
thought to what their toxic chemicals are doing to the local flora and fauna.
...a bit more than a year ago, we discontinued our toxic lawn service and signed up with a local nursery which has gone GREEN. From here on out, our lawn care is au natural. We still get "treatments" but they consist of mulch "tea" and applications of a corn product that suppresses weeds.
Fantastic sighting. I wouldn't have had a clue what it was. The warber birding was really good in Forestville two weeks ago....
I thought of you after I posted this blog. http://allenanddebby.blogspot.com/2012/05/baby-birdie-takes-flight.html
Hi Gaelyn,
That little bird is still at the neighbors....
Thanks Eileen.
I wish it was a McKay's Debbie! Then people would be flocking from all over to see it.
I like the female red-winged blackbirds, but you're right, they definitely don't look anything like the males.
I hope your birdies like the nesting balls as much as mine do Mollie. (and I'm totally with you on the lawn chemical thing!)
Yay Donna! I'm so happy to hear you've made a positive change for your yard!
Thanks Ray. I was at Root River County Park here a couple weeks ago and saw some good birds there too. (I guess I did a photo album on Facebook, but should also get those pics in a blog post for folks not on Facebook.....)
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