Mother’s Day Sparrows

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms! You are amazing!

This is my 2nd Mother’s Day as a mom. When Dave asked me what I wanted for the holiday of course my answer was to go birding (and get ice cream lol). Baby Birder was only a few months old at this time last year, so we took a short walk at Mine Falls Park for my first Mother’s Day. Since Baby Birder is a little older this year and travels well, we did 2 birding trips this weekend: one to Maine and the other to a smaller local park. I’m also really excited about my gift from them: a gift certificate to the Bird Watcher’s General Store in Cape Cod. 🙂

Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Kennebunk, ME

Yesterday we explored Kennebunk Plains WMA, which consists of over 1,700 acres of grasslands and pine barrens. The National Audubon Society considers Kennebunk Plains an Important Bird Area (IBA). The Plains are significant because they are breeding grounds to many grassland species such as Vesper Sparrows, Upland Sandpipers, Bobolinks, Eastern Meadowlarks, Savannah Sparrows, and Grasshopper Sparrows. Many of these birds are considered threatened throughout their ranges and are vulnerable to climate change, so managing a native grassland like Kennebunk Plains is necessary to their survival. The forest edges support many species of warblers, Black-billed Cuckoos, Whip-poor-wills, Lark Buntings, and others.

Kennebunk Plains (Photo by BirdNation)

Notable Species Observed: American Kestrel, Vesper Sparrow, Prairie Warbler, Field Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Towhee

We added a new species to our life list: the Vesper Sparrow! There were many of these cute little sparrows flying around the grasslands as well as Field and Savannah Sparrows. We observed a pair of American Kestrels flying around together and preening. They are super fast and we had the opportunity to watch one hovering and diving for prey. Field Sparrows and Prairie Warblers were a special treat because we haven’t seen any since we moved from NH to NJ.

Vesper Sparrow (Photo by BirdNation)

Vesper Sparrows mainly breed in the West/Midwest United States but can be found in smaller populations in the East and winter in the southern part of North America. Interestingly, this species has gone through numerous names over the years: from “the Gray Grass-bird” to “grass finch” to Alexander Wilson’s name of “Bay-winged Bunting”. Naturalist John Burroughs was fond of its pretty musical song and thought it sang most impressively during the evenings, so he named it “Vesper Sparrow” based off the sixth canonical hour of evening prayer worship. Distinctive field marks include its white-edged tail that can be seen in flight, chestnut lesser wing coverts on its shoulder, its stocky bill, and thin white eye-ring.

Field Sparrow (Photo by Dave Horowitz)

Savannah Sparrow (Photo by Dave Horowitz)

References

• Audubon. (n.d.) Kennebunk Plains – The Plains. Audubon. https://www.audubon.org/important-bird-areas/kennebunk-plains-plains
• Kauffman, K. (n.d.). Vesper Sparrow. Audubon. https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/vesper-sparrow
• The Cornell Lab. (2019). Vesper Sparrow. All About Birds. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Vesper_Sparrow/overview
• Wright, R. (2019). Peterson Reference Guide to Sparrows of North America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

The Bush Army

There are small armies living among us. You probably don’t even realize it. They’re almost everywhere: in our bushes, at our feeders, in our parking lots. And the soldiers are only about 6″ inches tall!

It’s the House Sparrow Army. Yesterday we talked about House Sparrows. Dave and I have House Sparrows moving into our new nest box. House Sparrows live in colonies, and each family member has a specific rank, just like members of an army.

Most small bird flocks have a dominance hierarchy. Many people know this concept as “pecking order”. This idea originally came from studies on chickens. The alpha chicken could peck at the beta chicken, while beta chicken can peck at “lower” birds but not the alpha and so on. In many flocks the male is dominant over the females, while adult birds are dominant over the young birds. If you ever watched House Sparrows at a feeder, you might notice some birds chasing others away to get to the food. This is pecking order in action.

In the case of the House Sparrow there is usual a Dominant Male. How can you tell which sparrow is the Dominant Male? He has the largest black patch of feathers on his chest. He’s the Sergeant Major of the Sparrow Army. Everyone else has a lower rank and knows what orders that have to follow in order to be successful in the flock. If you are a Private or a Corporal in the Sparrow Army you’ll have to watch out for the Dominant Male. The title “Sergeant Major” doesn’t always stay with the same bird though. As birds leave the colony or die ranks can change.

Check out this guy’s black patch (Image via wonderopolis.org)

Having the largest black patch has many perks: larger breeding territories, better and more numerous mates, being first in line for food. Sparrows with larger black patches tend to be older and better fighters. If you are a subordinate sparrow and you see the dominant male you know to save your energy and not start a fight with him.

So the next time you see the House Sparrow Army at their bush “base” or at your feeder check out their colors. You’ll start to notice the ranks of the families living near you.

Speaking of House Sparrows, our tenants have added larger items to their house:

Progress

As you know from some previous posts, I really enjoy bird cams. They are fascinating to watch and I learn so much from them. My fiance Dave enjoys them too, and we thought it would be cool to have our own bird cam.  Dave constructed a simple box and started working on a camera to put inside. He’s into electronics, so he used a Raspberry Pi (a computer the size of a credit card that can be used from all sorts of projects) to create a webcam. We have residents: House Sparrows!

Nest box (Image by David Horowitz)

Now, House Sparrows get a bad rap. House Sparrows are not native to North America. They were brought over from Europe in the 1850s and have spread across the United States and parts of Canada. You can find them in an urban or suburban environment because they thrive living near humans. You don’t even have to feed House Sparrows to attract them; they will probably move in near you anyway. Many birders think of House Sparrows as pests because sometimes they will displace native birds from nest boxes and other cavities.

Female and male House Sparrows (Image via rio.wikia.com)

I personally like them. I’m happy that they moved in and have a little home. House Sparrows live in small colonies. We have a family living in the bushes, so I’m guess that this pair is part of that group. At the end of February  they started checking out the property and decided it was perfect for them. So they started claiming the box with some twigs.

Starting to move in (Image by David Horowitz)

Over the past few weeks they’ve added a lot more nesting material.

(Image by David Horowitz)

Today there was more and it looked like it was starting to turn into a nest shape.

(Image by David Horowitz)

They’ve certainly made a lot of progress over the last two weeks. It’s exciting to be able to watch this process. I’ll keep you updated!