Song sparrows - a new view
My last blog on song sparrows was almost 4 years ago ( variations in song sparrows ). I wrote it about variations in song sparrows over a large area. I am redoing the blog because I have more additions to the photos - from four different locations in the northwestern quadrant of North America. Apparently, there are some 24 subspecies of song sparrow in North America. Continental variants tend to be more lightly coloured, as you can see from the Kelowna and Lloydminster birds I photographed above. Coastal variants tend to be more darkly shaded, as you can see by the Nanaimo and Alaska subspecies. Not only does the feathering differ in the subspecies, the songs vary regionally as well. They seem to have commonalities in that their songs are divided into 3 or 4 parts, often starting out with a pair of chirps followed by a series of notes, a warbling rattle, and possibly a soft finish. You can listen to four different songs by clic...