Sparrows
The American sparrows are a family of their own, streaky, ground-feeding seed eaters that include the juncos and towhees, and none of them is related to the House Sparrow, an Old World bird that came to America with people. They are most easily found in the leaf litter under park shrubs, kicking backwards with both feet.
A Song Sparrow has a repertoire of a dozen or so songs and learns them from its neighbours, so that the birds in one park sing a slightly different set from the birds in the next. A sparrow that moves in has to learn the local versions to be taken seriously.
- California Towhee Melozone crissalis
- Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina
- Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis
- Fox Sparrow Passerella iliaca
- House Sparrow Passer domesticus
- Savannah Sparrow Passerculus sandwichensis
- Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia
- White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis
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