Most sparrows don’t seem very dramatic at first glance. From a distance the majority seem to be generic little brown-gray birds. With time and a nice set of binoculars, the sparrows really come to life. You get to appreciate how pretty many of them really are. Sure, they don’t have all the dramatic colors of a Magnolia or Cerulean Warbler, the sparrows are full of subtle beauty. Most are a symphony of brown, grey, creams and whites. Each type have patterns and different color accents of black, white, rust, yellow to set themselves apart.
In Michigan the handsome rusty-capped American Tree Sparrows frequent our yard throughout the winter. They get replaced by the similar-looking Chipping Sparrows as the warmer weather moves in and the Tree Sparrows travel to the tundra to nest. American Tree Sparrows are bigger and have longer tails than the Chipping Sparrows. They also have a dark spot on their breast, a rusty eye stripe, and a black and yellow bill. Seeing the winter birds, like the American Tree Sparrow, return to the yard in the Fall always makes up for the lack of leaves and the cold weather.
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