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Wednesday, July 28, 2010 |
| Albino Ruby-throated Hummingbird
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| Field Sparrow
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By Ray Pope
I would like to thank my many friends and readers who took the time to send cards and emails to my family in our time of grief and for the many visitors to the funeral home. This is the closest of kin that we have lost and it will take time for our spirits to heal. With all the prayers and other words of comfort, it helps, and we are very grateful.
Judd Sellars and his wonderful staff, Bea Hallums and Trish Farrah, really were angels in disguise and tended to our ever need, and that’s the reason Judd will take me on my final journey.
I have heard from several readers about having Ruby-throated Hummingbirds at their feeders. It seems that we went from famine to feast with the little ones. Just three weeks ago everyone was asking where they were. It won't be much longer until September when all the northern Hummers head south to fatten themselves before taking off over the Gulf of Mexico headed to their winter homes in Mexico and other parts of northern South America. Then we can look forward to the return of our winter species.
Out in my back yard there are several species of birds that I can count on to be out by the feeders, but there is one sparrow which should be there also. My property backs up to a field which should harbor Field Sparrows, but they never seem to come over to feed. The Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla) is a small Sparrow, 5 3/4 inches in length with a longer than usual tail for a Sparrow. Adults have brown upperparts with a light brown breast, white belly, wingbars with a forked tail. The Sparrow has a gray face with a rusty crown, white eye ring and a pink bill. Its vocals consist of a series of sad whistles in a minor key ending in a trill. Sometimes it’s hard to put some bird songs into phonetics where one might be able to understand how the song goes. Myself, it’s taken me several years to learn the differences between one song and another on similar species.
The nesting habits of a Field Sparrow are very similar to the Song Sparrow which we learned about several weeks ago. The first nest of the season is built on the ground or very close to it while the second brood is located a little higher up in shrubs and small trees. On the ground nest, there is a good chance of predation by small animals and even snakes. The nest is a cup type where the female lays from two to five eggs which hatch in about fourteen days. After hatching the babies are fed a diet of insects and later as adults their diet consists of weed seed. Cowbirds often lay their own eggs in a Field Sparrow's nest which hatch earlier than the host bird and quickly toss their adopted brothers and sisters out of the nest to their doom.
Field Sparrows’ status is now on the watch list as their numbers have declined over the last 40 years from 18 million now down to 5.8 million due to loss of habitat. It’s the same everywhere as it is here as people buy homes out in the country where old fields are cleared for new housing.
I received a photo from North Carolina of an albino Hummingbird which is probably one of the most unusual you will ever see. It’s not clear if the bird will survive and if it's possible the bird can reproduce.
Robert Clarke called the other day to say that he has a Red-bellied Woodpecker that comes to his feeder each day. It seems to me that more and more Woodpeckers have taken a fancy to different treats other than suet.
I received a book with bird recipes for making special different types of treats for some of our feathered friends. Later, closer to the colder months I will include some of these in my future articles.
I would love to hear from you as to what’s lurking about in your neighborhood and at your feeders. You can reach me at 547-7371, or write me at 606 Fairview Ave., Lebanon, TN, 37087 or you can e-mail me at
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