Chipping Sparrows
On a gray, cloudy, cool and damp morning, few birds seemed to be out and around. But in one neighbor’s large, grassy yard, several little brown sparrows popped up into view now and then. When down in the grass, searching for food, they became almost invisible, but they frequently moved from spot to spot in short flights, and some also hopped up onto a wire cage surrounding a young gingko tree – where the bright reddish-brown caps, brown-streaked backs, smooth gray breasts and long tails of Chipping Sparrows could easily be seen, and their crisply marked faces with dark eyelines bordered in white or pale gray.
Chipping Sparrows are among our most familiar birds here. Through the summer months their long, level trilling songs can be heard almost everywhere. Even in the first week of August a few still were singing. But now the songs have stopped, and the small, lively birds have begun to gather in small flocks that forage together for food. The group I saw this morning was fewer than a dozen in number, but as the season goes on, they might gather in flocks of several dozen. Even then, they can be inconspicuous until something startles them into flight – and they spray up in a sudden burst of flashing wings.