Identity Plus

All three of these birds are common at my feeder, but I am clueless as to identity. I'm not even sure enough to call any of them sparrows. Sorry about the size, but there should be enough here for a positive identity. Help!

All three are House Sparrows. The middle an adult male. The other two female/juvs.

They appear to all be the ubiquitous and obnoxious (and invasive) House Sparrow. Middle is a male, others are females.

Since you are an avid bird photographer I suggest investing in a good field guide. I got my Peterson's Field Guide to Birds of North American for $7 from Barnes and Nobles online. Never thought I'd use it 1/4 as much as I do

- Luke

These are also known as English sparrows. They are an introduced species in North America and are considered a pest in some places. They are one of the reasons that we no longer see bluebirds in urban areas. The sparrows are cavity nesters and have even been reported to kill bluebirds to take over a nest cavity.

They appear to all be the ubiquitous and obnoxious (and invasive) House Sparrow. Middle is a male, others are females.

You can't definitively say these are females without knowing when the photo was taken. Juvenile males look just like females through the summer and fall.

Thanks. Luke, I have Peterson, Sibley and the National Audubon bird guides. What I don't have is experience in identification of the smaller birds. I do fairly well with the wading and shore birds, but that's about it.

Like Blanche Dubois, "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."

I looked back through Sibley. He had the House Sparrow in another section, completely divorced from the native sparrow section, under Old World Sparrows, separated by 30 or 40 pages of other species.

Arguably the second or third worst invasive bird species in the United States (after Eurasian Starling and Rock Pigeon). There's no record of how they were introduced in North America, but I blame Eugene Schieffelin, a fan of Shakespeare's plays, who tried to introduce to North America every bird species mentioned in the Bard's plays. We certainly have Schieffelin to thank for Starlings, and I am deeply suspicious about his role in House Sparrows and Rock Doves/Pigeons as well.

(I agree with Cindy: great to see you posting, Bob.)

Bob - I based my suggestion on the fact that they are being posted now, BUT should have left it open for interpretation, so thank.

Phil, I knew what I was looking for in my book but also didn't find it under sparrows (because it's introduced) so i can see where the confusion can lie.

Jim, where would you put the Mute swan on that list of nasty introduced species? At least in your neck of the woods you have Trumpeter's that don't take their crap...

All About Birds says:

The House Sparrow was introduced into Brooklyn, New York, in 1851. By 1900 it had spread to the Rocky Mountains. Two more introductions in the early 1870s, in San Francisco and Salt Lake City, aided the bird’s spread throughout the West. House Sparrows are now common across all of North America except Alaska and far northern Canada.

Wikipedia says:

The first of many successful introductions to North America occurred when fifty pairs from England were released in New York, by the commissioners of Central Park around 1852

I had no idea until y'all mentioned it. It is just impossible to know something about everything; I am living proof of that.

The reason the House "Sparrow" is in a different section of the field guide is because it isn't a "sparrow" at all, but a weaver finch. Unfortunately, it got the name "sparrow" a very ling time ago.

Compare the bill size and shape of Passer domesticus with that on New World sparrows. Also, read the "boxed" info on the House Sparrow page in the Sibley pocket-sized guides.

Remember that the English/common name can be misleading:

- not all warblers have "warbler in their name
- not all birds with "thrush" in their name are thrushes
- not all flycatchers are named "flycatcher"
- not all thrushes are called "thrush"
- a European Robin is not related to an American Robin, while a European Blackbird is closely related to an American Robin but not an American blackbird

Bird identification is about learning lots of little details.

Thanks Richard, your endless knowledge and experience proves helpful once again

I was pretty sure I knew what the birds were by looking at the photo, but the details and interesting tidbits in the posts that follow are great. This is why I love NPN!

Great discussion, and-I'll second what Rebecka said-what a great site for learning!