All sparrows aren’t just those little brown birds that are, at first, hard to identify. Some are quite distinctive, with black and white striped heads, white throats or a black bib, as in white-crowned sparrows, white-throated sparrows and Harris’ sparrows. These, as well as other sparrow species, have their own distinctive calls. All of these have spent time in the Central Kootenay (Creston and Kootenay Lake district).
The Song Sparrow, which is brown-streaked on both front and back, has a most melodious song, which is already being broadcast from shrubby slopes and road sides. A spot on the streaked breast distinguishes it from other streaked sparrows, such as the Savannah Sparrow, which has a yellow spot by the eye, The savannah’s song is nothing like a song sparrow’s but sounds like a grasshopper who’s grassy habitat it shares.
Some experts would put the House Sparrow (once called “English Sparrow”) with the finches but there is already a House Finch. Finches and sparrows are very similar in appearance and their seed eating habit. The females are brown-streaked like many sparrows while the male is bright red-pink , especially on the head. The male finches are already singing from the tops of residential coniferous trees.
Two species of sparrow that I make a special effort to track down in spring are the Savannah and Vesper Sparrows. In the spring and early summer I often drive around rural, bench land roads in an effort to at least hear the calls even though I don’t always see the birds. My favorite kind of evening is a warm one just before the sun disappears behind the western mountains and the calls of vesper and savannah are wafting over the farmland.
As most other sparrows, the Savannah and the Vesper are ground feeders and have white feathers in the tail, like ground feeders in other kinds of birds such as towhees, juncos, and even varied thrushes.
I enjoy hearing bird vocalizations in the spring season, even starlings, however I do have some favorites. Besides meadowlarks, thrushes and chickadees I like to hear and watch white-crowned sparrows. Probably my favorite first-meeting with this songster was on an early morning jaunt in a S. E.Washington country-like residential area. White-crowned sparrows could be heard from several directions and others seen scratching under the shrubs and fruit trees. Their calls dominated the morning air. But these birds had not reached their nesting areas, just heading there. Not many birds sing during their migration, like white-crowned sparrows. They just can’t wait until they reach “home”, the far north and mountain lakes, meadows and bogs. White-crowned sparrows have also been known to sing at night.
Perhaps singing vesper, song, and white-crowned sparrows is what generated expressions like ,“a contatta (or host) of sparrows”. The little brown birds, among other things, are quite the songsters, adding to the repertoire of bird music.
Trail update: As of April 13 the board walk at the junction of the Creston Mt., Fern Forest and Balancing Rock Trails was covered with 2 feet of firm, slippery snow.