In mid-Michigan the White-crowned Sparrow’s arrival usually coincides with the blooming of the cherry trees. This year we had an unusually early spring and I think many of the white-crowns bypassed their usual mid-Michigan stop on their way north.
I really enjoy the pretty call of the White-crowned Sparrow and look forward to hearing it every spring. At Christmas we were given a book on the birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge which came with a CD full of recordings of the ambient sounds there. The call of the White-crowned figures prominently in many of the recordings. The kids will often leave that CD playing for our parrot who likes the chatter of the birds. This March, I kept getting fooled by the White-crowned Sparrows on the recording, thinking it was coming from early ones out our windows. Of course they weren’t there yet. After a while I smartened up to the fact that we also don’t have any Willow Ptarmigan calling in our backyard!
This is a 7 x 11 inch transparent watercolor on Arches 140lb HP paper.
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