WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, NORTHERN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

Lately, I ventured into observing and recording a diverse range of aquatic birds living in northern Los Angeles County, southern California (see one of my recent blogs), but I held off researching terrestrial birds. Yet, the latter are a treasure right before my eyes. So, stay tuned to my blog! Who knows what species of animal or plant will turn up next! 

Having diverse flower gardens, in both front and back yards of my home, has made them “bird havens.” Plus, we have a sturdy hedge in the front yard, and a tall brick wall in the back yard. These provide some protection against wandering predators. Such a yard stands out in glaring contrast to most other homes in my neighborhood. Mostly, they are usually nothing more than the standard grassy yard ± a few shrubs and/or a few flowers.

I could no longer ignore some small birds that regularly visit, early every morning, the garden in my front yard. These birds are Zonotrichia leucophrys (Foster, J.R., 1772). This species, which is also known as the “white crowned sparrow” (Burton, 1999), “caught my attention” because of its striking head pattern of black and white stripes.

This species is just one of the very diverse group of western sparrows, which are native to North America and also widespread from Alaska through California, Baja California, and northern Mexico; but not along the eastern seaboard of the United States. This species is a common bird in southern California (Los Angeles area), Oregon, and Washington. For more details, go to https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-crowned_Sparrow/overview 

The west-coast population of this species of sparrow is stable and not threatened. This small bird (5.5 to 7 inches in length) is very active and does not stay in one spot for very long at all! It is difficult to get a photo of it. A small group (about 10 individuals) usually visits my garden every morning (March) and at the same time. They stay for only about a few minutes, quickly searching the ground for seeds, especially those shed by the adjacent borage plants (see one of my earlier posts about this plant). These small birds hop and flutter about so quickly that it is very difficult to take a photograph that is not blurred. I finally realized that I should just take a rapid succession of images and hope for the best. That worked OK, but the images are somewhat blurred when enlarged. Nevertheless, these images (as shown here) clearly show that the population of this bird that visits my garden is characterized by having has a central white stripe down the center of the head. These sparrows apparently migrated away by early April, and they have been replaced, in a much less way, by a few occasional but different sparrows with brown heads.

Also, if you are interested in seeing other photos of this species, I recommend the internet site, available (for free), at https://ebird.org > species > wchspa 

Fig. 1. A white-crowned sparrow in the garden in the front yard of my home.

Fig. 2. A white-crowned sparrow next to a borage plant in the same garden.

References:

Burton, R. 1999. The Audubon Backyard Birdwatcher. 329 pp.

ebird.org

7.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net 

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-crowned_Sparrow/overview