Sparrows are perhaps my/our favourite birds. From the point of view of nostalgia I would say especially the House Sparrows that I grew up with but otherwise one of the great things about living in Canada is the number of other sparrow species (most of them more strictly Buntings, but we won’t go there today). Out this week doing a weekly winter bird census at the local bird observatory we got some good close-up opportunities with two of the best, and two species we really only see in winter. The American Tree Sparrow and the White-throated Sparrow.

American Tree Sparrow

American Tree Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

The deeper snow of a week ago has thinned out a lot in the last few days as we had a mild thaw and lots of rain, but the deep stuff will be here to stay before very long.

Some additional photos of the Sparrow habitat (note: not open to the public).

The Banding Hut

Off limits

The ponds are now frozen over and will be until next spring

“Warbler Alley”

Part of the research station