Consider the Sparrow

My first sparrow story goes back nearly forty years, when I had a mild interest in birds, and accompanied C on a tour he was leading in mid-May at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. While everyone's binoculars were scanning the treetops for a Cerulean Warbler C called our attention to a dusky movement in the shadows under a hedge. "There's a pretty good look at a Lincoln's Sparrow," he said. It was a lesson in full-spectrum alertness and the ability to distinguish among LBJs, the "little brown jobs" of the bird world that for a novice can be hard to identify even in hand.

More recently C and a birding companion caught a fleeting glimpse of a sparrow oddity along the edge of the Halibut Point moors. "Lincoln's," called C. His companion asked half-humorously whether C had had a good enough look that she could count it herself . A Lincoln's Sparrow looks very much like the prevalent Song Sparrow.

Song Sparrow

Sparrows may get more attention from housewives scattering breadcrumbs in the dooryard than from newcomers to the world of natural splendors. Sparrows bring to mind "the least of these" parable from the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus pointed to the Creator's delight in all creatures, down to the most unpretentious of birds, or persons.

Besides a Song Sparrow I could definitely recognize a White-throated Sparrow at my home bird feeder and in the thickets of Halibut Point, by its crisp white head stripes and bib. Yellow touches above the eyes further ornament individuals seen at close range.

White-throated Sparrow

A few years ago when I encountered S at the Park she asked if I had seen the White-crowned Sparrows in the Back 40. It's similar but a little different from the White-throats, she said, and is just now passing through in migration. I missed it then but her excitement stayed with me in an obscure memory capsule until this spring when I made my first sighting of this bright-headed LBJ beside the path leading up from Folly Cove.

White-crowned Sparrow

It was one of those breakthrough moments when a clan of look-alikes begins to take on special interest, and initiate a new challenge.

Chipping Sparrow

In past excursions I had noted rufous-capped sparrows that stood out perkily from others, like the Chipping Sparrow pictured above and the Swamp Sparrow below.

Swamp Sparrow

This does not mean that they were easy for me to distinguish from each other in the field. Other factors like location and peculiar habits help experienced birders make quick discernments.

Tree Sparrow

Vocalizations can also facilitate on-the-spot identification. This Tree Sparrow, though you can't see its rufous cap from the photo angle, commends itself with a singularly beautiful melodic warble.

Field Sparrow

The pocket-sized Field Sparrow has a distinctive pinkish aspect that, with the white eye ring, set it apart from the rest of the clan.

House Sparrows

At the other end of the comportment spectrum come the burly House Sparrow mobsters that proliferate close to human habitation and muscle swallows from their nesting box. They're the ones that hit you up for potato chip handouts at the Park entrance.

House Sparrows differ from the rest of these birds in that they are of another taxonomic family despite superficial resemblance to our native species. They were imported experimentally from Europe to America in the nineteenth century and have become an invasive pest.

Fox Sparrow

The Song Sparrow's middling features and year-round presence make it a convenient standard for identifying some of the other species. In comparison, the Fox Sparrow is larger with a redder aspect, more broadly striped, and lacking the central black spot on its chest. It passes through our area on a limited spring schedule. The one pictured here appeared beneath my home feeder.

Savannah Sparrow

When I made my sparrow quest known to A this spring, she said a friend of hers had just seen Savannah Sparrows in the scruffy grass traffic island at the entrance to Folly Cove pier. The next day J and I were walking right by that spot, where a couple of inconspicuous Song Sparrow lookalikes were searching for weed seeds. J said, There's your prize. After close examination of the photograph I have more appreciation for honing in on fine feature distinctions.

Lincoln's Sparrow

My apex sparrow moment this season came when I happened on a Lincoln's Sparrow, guided by a tip from two experts canvassing Halibut Point in the annual Birdathon. True to type this bird tried at all times to keep itself screened from sight by foliage or shrubbery. I look at the photo and wonder if readers are thinking, What's all the fuss? All I can say is that I feel lucky to pursue mild obsessions in such a pleasant place.

Song Sparrow singing

Out on the heath you're likely to hear a Song Sparrow before you see it. The bird begins its spritely concert with a rising-falling pair of notes, followed by a series of chrrr-ing phrases. The effect is like "Attention, please" and "glory, glory, glory."

In considering the sparrow I imagine a Chinese scroll painting with an apricot tree blooming in a courtyard, a boy sweeping petals from the walkway, and a cluster of sparrows gleaning kernels of grain by the well. The delicate elements of the composition interlock with a serenity that promises endurance through the ebbs and flows of circumstance. Other scrolls are festooned with cranes or peacocks, but this one mellows the viewer with an attainable peace.