Actually, I didn't find the bird myself, my mom saw it. She subsequently woke me up and showed me a picture of it, saying that "there's a bird at the feeders I don't recognize." I, in turn, bolted downstairs faster than I believe I have ever moved from the bed to the other side of the room. Upon arrival at the window, the bird was gone.
Hours later, I was still looking for the bird. I had seen five or six Dark-eyed Junco, White-throated Sparrow and Song Sparrow, but the sought-after Seventh Sparrow was still gone.
Until I spied a small reddish fellow under one of the feeders. Upon inspection, the sparrow in question proved to be the FOX SPARROW, the Seventh Species of Sparrow (SSS) for my backyard. Not only that, but despite many hours waiting for Fox Sparrows to show themselves at the feeding station of Forest Park in Queens, I had never seen one and had thus developed a nemesis relationship with the bird. So not only was the Fox the Seventh Species of Sparrow for my backyard, it was another nemesis eliminated and my personal ninth sparrow species (I have seen Lincoln's and Swamp outside my yard.)
With that, take a look at the pictures, and may you be successful in your search for Sparrow #7.
NOTE: I do not include House Sparrow on my yard sparrow list. This is because they are not true sparrows, they are in fact weaverbirds from Europe that were introduced to North America. I only count native sparrows on my yard sparrow list.
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| Talk about camouflage. |
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| There is no question about this bird's ID. |
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| My, what pretty streaking you have! |
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