Pelagic Birding in Molly and Larry's Big Year Pelagic Birding

In the Zono!

A tan-striped White throated sparrow has caught my attention.  He is back in my yard for another winter.  Just when I am sidelined with Covid, not Corvid, and really needed something a little exotic, at least for California, to occupy my mind.

Yard birds present opportunities often not available when racing around a Texas Reseca.  Now I can get close ups photos and ask questions of a really interesting bird species with a computer and a cup of tea right in front of me.  Stationary birding is birding and I love birding.

Here is a

photo of today's sparrow.

And here is a photo of a different White-throated sparrow I took a few miles away at an area called Marta's wash.

Note the coloration on the crown the above bird has tan and white lines and the bird below has black and white lines.  The sparrow from today is a tan-striped White throated sparrow and the sparrow just above is a white-striped White throated sparrow. (David Sibley refers to the lower bird as black-striped because it is more descriptive)

The sparrow inspired the question of today:  Are tan-striped white throated sparrows a different sub species than the White-crowned white throated sparrow?  Tap, tap, tap,  No!  They are color morphs.  The only other color morphs I have thought a lot about is the Eastern Screech owl in Texas which is grey (an Estero Llano State Park speciality) and the Easter Screech owl I see in the Ohio area which is rufous or gray.  

But the curious case of the White throated sparrow is unique and has no regional bias.  About half of the sparrows in any region are tan-striped and half are white-striped and their reproductive habits have evolved to insure that the equal distribution continues.

The white-striped White throated sparrow males and females are more aggressive than their Tan-striped counterparts.  Both genders of the  white-stripes choose the tan-stripes for a mate.   According to Ken Kaufman 95% of the time mates come from opposite color morphs.  This arrangement works out quite nice as the Tan-stripes, including the males, are better nest caretakers and the White throateds are better protectors of the nest site.

With the arrival of the White throated sparrow three-fifths of the world's species, in the genus Zonotrichia (Zonos for short) are right now in my little yard. Here are the other  Zonos I have in my yard.

White-crowned sparrow

 Golden crowned Sparrow

Not represented, yet, in my front yard, is the Harris Sparrow.  I did see this one three winters ago in Freestone, California.

And who is the last of the 'hair-banded' sparrows in the world?  It is the  Rufous collared sparrow, who looks like a White Crowned sparrow with a rusty red shawl on.  I will be sure to let you know if he shows up in my yard.  It would save you a trip to Southeast Mexico.  

Besides the bulky Zono sparrows other birds flitter by and or land on the trees near my feeders including Cedar waxwings, California towhees, Ruby Crowned kinglets, Annas hummingbirds, Chestnut backed chickadees, Oak titmice, Robins, etc.

Not a bad way to recover, sitting in my little front yard watching and reading about sparrows in the "Zono!"

Additional Reading: https://www.audubon.org/news/the-fascinating-and-complicated-sex-lives-white-throated-sparrows by Kaufman

https://www.audubon.org/news/the-fascinating-and-complicated-sex-lives-white-throated-sparrows By Sibley