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, 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:
Amazing discovery. Who would have thought??? I'm relatively new to birding and would have assumed all sparrow just ate seeds...:)
Hello, I am sure the babies will love eating that yellow grub. Great series.
Happy Tuesday, enjoy your day!
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
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