09.22.24: Winter meal time

There are more than 50 types of birds in North America that carry the name “sparrow.” That’s a lot of different streaky brown birds hanging around.

Of the many varieties of sparrows, 13 spend at least part of the year in Central Ohio where I also spend at least part of the year. I have photos of 11 of the 13, missing only the Henslow’s Sparrow and the Vesper Sparrow. I assume that if I carefully reviewed the more than 8,000 sparrow photos in my files I’d probably find a Henslow’s or Vesper misidentified as a different type of sparrow. Many sparrows look very similar, with sometimes relatively minor differences in markings distinguishing one sparrow variety from another.

This photo shows a White-throated Sparrow enjoying a berry on a cold December morning. The sparrow had found a plant deep in the woods that still had berries and it settled in for a nice breakfast.

The White-crowned Sparrow is one of several sparrow varieties that show up in Ohio when cold weather arrives. The birds spend summers in Canada and winters mostly in the eastern half of the U.S. plus Texas.

Like the White-crowned Sparrow, a similarly named sparrow variety that spends winter in Central Ohio, the White-throated Sparrow has a black-and white striped head. But it also has a yellow patch between each eye and its gray bill. And the bright white throat is the most obvious identifying mark. There’s also a variety that is less boldly marked – known as “tan-striped” – that has a tan-on-brown face pattern instead of the white on black pattern.

American sparrows are seed-eating birds with conical bills, brown or gray in color, and many species have distinctive head patterns. The American sparrows are not related to birds known as Old World sparrows, found in Europe, Africa and Asia. The House Sparrow, abundant throughout North America, is an Old World sparrow, as is the Eurasian Tree Sparrow found primarily in a small area of Missouri and Illinois. American sparrows are more closely related to Old World buntings.