
Has a light crown stripe Clay-coloured SparrowĪnd a sharply outlined ear patch. The Clay-coloured Sparrow is plain-breasted, Clay-coloured Sparrow The Tree Sparrow has a solid red-brown cap, American Tree SparrowĪ dark spot on the breast American Tree SparrowĪnd the bill is dark above and yellow below. Note the black line through the eye and a white line over it. The Chipping Sparrow is a small gray-breasted sparrow. It has a whitish crown stripe and a yellowish eyebrow stripe. Despite this, I have few photos of it as I am seldom near this habitat. My grandfather told me that this is the most common farmer’s field bird in Canada. The rusty combined with gray about the neck gives the bird its foxy look. Note the band of creamy buff across the breast. The breast streaks are finer and do not aggregate into a central spot. The Lincoln’s Sparrow is similar to the Song Sparrow but the side of the face is grayer. The Field Sparrow has a clear breast, Field Sparrow The Swamp Sparrow has a reddish cap, Swamp SparrowĪnd rather reddish wings and tail. This central spot completes a triangle with the dark blotches on each side of the throat.

Note the heavy breast streaks which converge into a large central spot. Instead, I had a look at my sparrow photographs over the last few years and decided to put together this guide to their identification.Įasily the most commonly seen and heard of the sparrows. Same-day passes will be available on-site at the Zoo.With snowfall predicted all of today, I didn’t want to risk getting moisture into my camera during a walk.
White throated sparrow free#
In order to help the birds adjust to having visitors in their living space, free timed-entry passes will be required at the Bird House for the first several months. That ensures “that it has the multiple canopy layers that bird species require to go down there to live and mate, and have all of these necessities for life,” he said. To get bird-friendly certifications, he said, coffee growers have to make sure there are a certain number of native tree species in the area. Tony Barnett of Chesapeake Coffee Roasters in Maryland tended to the pour-over coffees. More than 70 North American bird species spend their winters in coffee and cocoa plantations, and when those operations clear out native trees to maximize space for agriculture, the birds lose critical habitats.ĭuring the pre-opening event, the National Zoo invited a coffee roaster to come and brew bird-friendly coffee for taste-testing. “Like putting our cat inside.” It’s been estimated that domestic cats kill as many as 2.4 billion birds every year.Įven enjoying coffee can be a bird-friendly action, according to zoo officials. Evans said visitors can learn about the birds and ways they can help fight the loss of bird populations. The Bird House, with its immersive habitats lets visitors see migratory birds up close.

But the reopening of the Bird House, which had been closed for renovations, leaves him “super optimistic” that more people will get involved in conservation efforts. “We know we’re in a time of serious bird decline,” he said, referring to the 2019 study that estimated a loss of 3 billion birds in the United States and Canada over a period of 50 years. “They’re always in the same corner, so they’re really easy to identify, and I love ducks - they’re so cute,” she said with a laugh.Įvans said the opening of the Bird House is “huge.” You can spot them in the coffee farm aviary. Long confessed her favorite birds are ducks, and of those, she favors the black-bellied whistling duck. “And you realize, ‘oh, goodness I hope I’m not hurting it,'” she said. She told WTOP it was exciting to be able to hold the tiny bird, and noted how soft and fragile it felt in her hands. “We’ve been studying the birds in the aviaries, but we’ve never gotten that close, and certainly never touched them,'” she said. It was Long’s first time holding a wild bird. Sarah Long, an intern from American University, assisted Evans in the demonstration, releasing the white-throated sparrow after it had been banded. In one exhibit, visitors can even get their hands on binoculars for an up-close view of the smaller birds that love to flit among the treetops in the aviary that mimics a bird-friendly coffee farm.Īt a recent preview of the Bird House, migratory bird ecologist Brian Evans gave a bird-banding demonstration, explaining how the practice helps biologists learn about migration patterns and how bird populations are doing overall. The six-year, $69-million project features more than 70 different bird species in aviaries where the birds can swim, fly and waddle freely.

Starting Monday, you can visit Northwest D.C.’s Smithsonian National Zoo and its newly renovated Bird House - all you’ll need is a free ticket to enter. Business & Finance Click to expand menu.
