American Tree Sparrows blew in with the snow...

...finally our American Tree Sparrows have arrived for the winter! They always seem to ride in on the night winds of the first big snow in January, so when I looked out the kitchen window yesterday morning, I had my fingers crossed. Sure enough...the little sparrows were under the feeders searching out seeds. I cracked the window so I could hear their pretty, twittery calls. It only took colder temps and five inches of snow to lure them in...

A sweet American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea) pulls seed from brush in our backyard. 

American Tree Sparrows are birds from the far north, so they are well adapted to our cold winters. This spring our little flock will pick up and head back home, flying over 2,000 miles to reach their breeding grounds in Manitoba, so we have to enjoy them while we can. I'm thankful we have a little flock that stays with us each winter. Their cheery calls and warm, beautiful colors always brighten up the gray that can descend during winter. I just checked the thermometer and it's 4 degrees Fahrenheit. These little fellas should feel right at home!

American Tree Sparrows eat the seeds at my feeders, but they also scour the yard looking for weed seeds and spent flower heads. I know they love the purple coneflowers that I have all over, especially those mixed into the weed patch I've created in part of my yard. They go for Goldenrod too...and almost any plant packed with seeds.

...a weed seed eating demon!  

In the January 2009 issue of Birds and Blooms magazine, George Harrison mentioned that over a hundred years ago, a Professor F.E.L Beal reported that in Iowa, American Tree Sparrows consumed 875 tons of weed seeds annually, and farmers considered these little birds economic allies. (These angelic looking birds are weed-seed-eating demons!)

The two-toned yellow and black bill, and the stickpin in the center of his chest are two identifying field marks of the American Tree Sparrow...not to mention his jaunty rusty cap!

...a pretty bird in beautiful snow! I can never resist head-on shots of the winter birds.

The warm chocolate browns, caramels, and rusty oranges are beautiful against the white snow. 

Don't clean your yard up in the fall...birds like it messy!
I always leave flower heads, weedy areas, and brushy areas for the birds in winter. The little sparrows can't resist these wild pockets in a suburban yard. I've let a section of my yard "go wild" with goldenrod, black-eyed susans, purple coneflowers, and grasses and I can always find something interesting hiding out in the brush...

An American Tree Sparrow hangs out in the wild weed patch. I never cut down flower heads and weedy areas in the fall. I leave them as is for the birds, who eat seeds and wintering insects in them all winter long. In our yard, the American Tree Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows, American Goldfinch, and Carolina Chickadees really love the uncut grasses in the weed patch. 

The seasonal changing of the guard...

Yesterday evening, a lovely Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) flew into view and perched in an outer branch of a tree at the edge of the woods. He was sweet and sat there looking at me with his rusty red cap at a jaunty angle--almost seeming to ask me if I was ready for the excitement of spring to begin. Around here, Chipping Sparrows signal the change of the season. Soon the little American Tree Sparrows (Spizella arborea) that flew in on a cold wind last autumn, will head north, and the other winter birds like the Dark-eyed Juncos will go with them...it's the seasonal changing of the guard!

A Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) sits pretty at the edge of the woods and lets me know spring is about to be sprung!

Chipping Sparrows flit in and out of bushes around our house all summer long. I see them constantly nipping at grass seeds and hear their happy summer chatter. They are the perfect summer counterpart to the winter American Tree Sparrows!

Painting 100! American Tree Sparrow with Cubes :-D

Painting #100, American Tree Sparrow with Cubes

Acrylic, 18x24 canvas

Yeah!!

The canvas was big...and the lighting poor, so the photo doesn't capture the painting very well. I need to learn how to photograph large canvases because after working on this one, I know I'm going to want to keep getting larger with my art! To help see the bird, I cropped the photo for detail..

Same painting...just cropped for detail.

I love American Tree Sparrows. They are the sweetest little sparrows, always polite and cheerful, and their song...I LOVE hearing it across the snow. It's so pretty...like tiny little bells when the flock moves together. When I was trying to decide what to paint for the final painting in the challenge, it wasn't hard. I was looking through photos from the end of November and saw a photo of an American Tree Sparrow I saw at VOA Park. A twig was right in front of his face, so it never made it on the blog...but...I could paint the little fellow so we could see all of his face. I wanted to capture that sweetness that always seems to surround these little birds. Hopefully you can feel that when you look at him in the painting.

The photo of the American Tree Sparrow that was the inspiration for the painting. I saw this little guy on Nov 21, 2010 at VOA Park. Our little backyard flock still hasn't arrived at our feeders. I keep waiting. Sometimes they don't show until the middle of January, though. They seem to ride in on really cold arctic blasts...

For my favorite photos of an American Tree Sparrow in our backyard, click here.

For one of my earliest posts and info on American Tree Sparrows, click here.

Happy New Year!!!

I also wanted to thank everyone who visits my blog. I always love reading the comments you leave, and I appreciate the friendships that have followed. It's so wonderful to be part of an international birding and art community!! I hope everyone has a peaceful New Year full of love and birding and art adventures!

I also want to thank Laure Ferlita of Painted Thoughts Blog for hosting the 100 Paintings in a Year Challenge. It has been a wonderful experience! Thanks, Laure!!!

Painting #99, Robin Berry

Painting 99, Robin Berry

Acrylic, 16x20 Canvas

Do you recognize this American Robin? She showed up in this post earlier in the month. Matty loves this one. He wants to take it with him when he leaves for college (he's 15 now...let's see if he feels that way when he's 18. A Robin eating a berry might not be cool enough for a college dorm room!) This is the first time I've put acrylic on a real canvas. I liked the feel of the canvas and working on the larger size.

...same painting cropped down. I like the crop...I could see myself buying notecards of something like this.

...the painting at an earlier stage. I took out all the fuzzy orange "out-of-focus-in-the-background" berries and in the process overworked the sky. I probably should have kept it at this stage. I had actually signed it and considered it finished (and I never sign my paintings...I always forget to. I'm working on that.).

...same painting at its earliest stage. I whipped it out in about 40 minutes and then headed off to bed. I almost like it more than the finished product. It's a completely different style...a little more graphic with no detail and a bolder red breast. Which do you like better?

...painting 100 is in the works! Yeah! It's a sweet little American Tree Sparrow (and is even larger at 18x24). I hope to finish it today or tomorrow.

I posted paintings 86 - 97 on the 100 Paintings Challenge site. I will try to add them in to this post later this evening.

An American Tree Sparrow in the Snow

A little American Tree Sparrow rested in a crabapple tree just outside our family room window Saturday morning. He seemed very pleased with the additional five inches of snow. After all, he is a bird from the far north and is well adapted to our cold winters. This spring he will pick up and head back home, flying over 2,000 miles to reach his breeding grounds in Manitoba, so we have to enjoy him while we can. He's our special part-time bird with a wintertime job of brightening our cold, grey days. The warm chocolate brown color that runs through his feathers and the cheerful, rusty cap on his head fit his happy self perfectly and help him do his job. I also love his two-toned bill and dark stickpin in the center of his chest. Last year our little winter flock numbered about 20. This year it seems a little higher...maybe 25+. Last winter the flock stuck to the feeders outside my kitchen window, but this winter they have ventured to the feeders in the front of the house outside my office window and to the feeders in the back outside the family room. Wherever I go, I can catch a glimpse of them, twittering and hopping around...

The Return of the American Tree Sparrow

Every winter I wait for the arrival of these little brown birds. They have such cute faces, and I love their two-toned yellow and black bills. I never know when they will arrive, but usually they seem to fly in on the night winds of a cold arctic blast, peppering the white snow around the feeders outside the kitchen window early the next morning. Nearly 2000 miles from their Arctic homes, these little birds bring a welcome surprise to our cold, gray winter days.

American Tree Sparrows Outside my Kitchen Window

Our little flock numbers seven right now. Last year, we started with three and moved up to 20 by mid-February. I hope we get another big winter storm soon to up our American Tree Sparrow numbers!

Will today be the last day for our American Tree Sparrows?

Usually the sun keeps away from our north-facing kitchen window, but for a brief time in the morning a few rays creep into the tree and on the feeder just outside the window. The other morning, as I was getting ready to fry an egg, I peeked out and saw the sun lighting up the browns in this American Tree Sparrow' feathers as it nipped at the thistle. The browns were so rich and warm I let out an "ooohhh......" and ran for the camera!

The sun enhanced the brown feathers on this 

tree sparrow, making them glow with warmth.

I will miss this little fellow and his flock because they kept us entertained all winter. After the big snow, we had 20+ eating, flitting, twittering and looking cute daily at the kitchen window feeders. The entire month of February was an American Tree Sparrowfest. All you had to do was glance out the window to find either a small group or the whole flock busily going about their business, which usually involved eating seeds, twittering, or looking up at me as I cracked the kitchen window to listen to them! 

A brave little fellow, he would barely flinch as I cracked 

the kitchen window for better viewing and listening!

I wonder how much longer they will be around…will today be the last day? I’m keeping track. Three were at the feeder this morning, but when I came home late this afternoon, there were none. In their place will come the Chipping Sparrows, but they are usually not as feeder friendly, preferring instead, the insects found in the grasses in our back yard. That’s okay. I will set up a portable bird blind and watch the chippy little cuties hopping around scoring invertebrates off the grasses, and I'll snap their pictures in the sun too.

Click here for a previous post on American Tree Sparrows, and a little more information on them.

Last year at this time we had snow...

...but out little American Tree Sparrow didn't seem too upset about it! I love this series of photos Rick took of the little guy. He appears to be looking both ways before crossing the tree.

Video of two American Tree Sparrows feeding in our yard.

This video goes along with yesterday's post on our American Tree Sparrow flock. For Christmas, Rick gave me a Canon PowerShot Digital Elph (a tiny camera for photographing people at parties, not birds in the wild). But yesterday, while playing around with the video option, I caught two American Tree Sparrows feeding in our side yard just outside the kitchen window. I compressed the file way down, which lessened the quality, but it’s still a great picture also considering it's from such a tiny camera. I’ve never posted a video, so this will be an experiment. I’m going through Vimeo. It had just started to snow when I shot this video and you can see the little flakes.

American Tree Sparrows from Kelly Riccetti on Vimeo.

Our flock of American Tree Sparrows is growing...

Over the past two weeks, our small flock of American Tree Sparrows has gone from 3 to 12+. Late yesterday afternoon, I cracked my kitchen window so I could listen to their twittering. They sounded louder than usual and more animated, so I looked out to see what was going on. Three happy tree sparrows is a fine sight, but 12+ is comical with all of the dipping, chipping and hopping around. I was happy to see so many new additions to the flock…and it was really exciting to see them all in one place. The continued snow is driving them to our feeders.

Sitting outside my kitchen window, this fellow 

looks soft and sweet. I photographed him 

through the screen and glass, so he is hazy.

When I took this shot, I was lying in the 

snow under a bush hoping I was invisible. 

As you can see, I wasn’t. He’s looking right 

into my lens, no doubt laughing. I’m surprised 

he’s not sticking out his little tongue. 

Larry caught this tree sparrow in flight…totally cool.

…as an aside. Today, as I was trying to photograph the birds, a flock of about 300 Canada Geese flew over. For our neighborhood, that is pretty unusual and totally cool!!

An American Tree Sparrow Lands Just Outside my Kitchen Window

Three American Tree Sparrows are always hopping around my backyard, scratching at the seeds on the ground, and looking cute in their rusty caps. They are such sweet, polite birds and are one of my favorites. This afternoon, as I was looking out my kitchen window, one dropped in to eat thistle at one of my finch feeders. This was a first and I was excited! He came back again and again. I grabbed my camera, but didn’t have much hope of capturing an image because I had to shoot through glass and screen, but it worked. The photos are a bit hazy, but they clearly show his rusty cap and his yellow and black beak.


Earlier I had been reading an article on American Tree Sparrows by Jim McCormac in the latest issue of Birdwatcher’s Digest (Vol. 31 No. 3, Jan/Feb 2009), so this little guy couldn’t have chosen a better time to pose for me. He’s so cute in these pics. It was snowing heavily at the time, and you can even see the little snowflakes on his head. Since American Tree Sparrows are winter visitors from up north, I’m sure he didn’t mind!


In McCormac’s article, he explains that the American Tree Sparrow’s breeding grounds are way north in Churchill, Manitoba, which means this little fellow will have to travel almost 2000 miles to get back home in the spring (totally amazing--makes me love them more). He also talks about the tree sparrows’ taste for weed seeds and recommends planting Goldenrod, coneflowers (I already have), and Little Bluestem grass. So now I have another batch of native plants to add to my gardening for the birds list.


To carry the weed-seed thing a little further, in this month’s Birds and Blooms (January 2009), George Harrison writes on the American Tree Sparrow,

A century ago, Professor F. E. L. Beal wrote that in the state of Iowa alone, American Tree Sparrows consumed 875 tons of weed seeds annually. Since then, farmers have considered the American Tree Sparrow and other members of its tribe to be valuable economic allies.

One researcher found that in an 18-inch square of weeds, tree sparrows were so thorough consuming the weed seeds, they missed only 6 seeds, leaving 1,130 half seed shells in their wake. These little guys are like weed seed vacuums. So not only are they cute, they are necessary and valuable, especially when growing foods organically.