Tuesday, June 06, 2017

A Song Sparrow and its diet

I have long loved bird watching and discovering  a bird's  id, BUT I have realized lately there has been a missing factor in my knowledge of bird id'ing...  I have learned that knowing what a bird will eat is most helpful  in identifying the bird I have found.  This morning that fact was brought to my attention once again.  While watching a Song Sparrow in some bushes I noticed something yellow hanging from its mouth and I immediately assumed it was a small yellow leaf.  Wrong!  When I got home and downloaded my pictures I discovered that the yellow leaf? had legs!! ( oops, I may be wrong here about  legs? Perhaps the two hanging leg like things may  be attenaes?)I think it was a grub of some sort. It was just last week that I discovered that a Song Sparrow's diet consists also of insects, as well as bird food seeds.

Above, see the yellow thing hanging from the side of the sparrow's beak!
 Above, you can see that the yellow thing ( grub?) has legs!!
 The dark breast spot in the picture above id's this sparrow as a Song Sparrow.
As well as the yellow grub there are other insect legs and things protruding from the bird's beak.  The sparrow did not eat these goodies immediately, so I assume that it was gathering breakfast to take home to its family.
Being a lifelong daily learner has some benefits for sure! I now have valuable information to use when id'ing a Song Sparrow.  I now know that they  will eat insects and grubs!!

3 comments:

troutbirder said...

Amazing discovery. Who would have thought??? I'm relatively new to birding and would have assumed all sparrow just ate seeds...:)

eileeninmd said...

Hello, I am sure the babies will love eating that yellow grub. Great series.
Happy Tuesday, enjoy your day!

Anonymous said...

I appreciate your comment Troutbirdet. My point Exactly!.. I have found that every bit of new information about birding is helpful in mynpursuitnofbenjoyingnand discovering the nature community. Thank you for your comment.
Ann