Sparrow Power

By Keith Michael

Little Brown Job (LBJ) is the affectionate, or not so affectionate, nickname for the common, or not so common, Sparrow.

Not quite as confusing as last month’s Confusing Fall Warblers, nevertheless, differentiating between the brown, stripey sparrows creates its own high stakes suspense. Hence, hold on for the roller coaster thrill ride of putting a sparrow’s name to a sparrow’s face.

The most familiar West Village sparrow is the chatty House Sparrow, sometimes called the European House Sparrow. This species was introduced in Brooklyn in 1851 to help control insect pests. As primarily a seed-eater, this eradication plan was woefully ill-conceived. Since then, the House Sparrow’s notoriety harkens from having become one of the most widespread birds of North America. The male is rather formally attired in a snappy black bib and face mask, a grayish-white shirt-front, a chestnut topper, and a brown-streaked tail coat. The female is possibly the most nondescript brown bird there is: brown upon brown upon brown. Frankly, her encyclopedia of browns is striking in its own right. On a warm fall day, you might see them dust bathing in a dirt patch in the sun.

Our most common homegrown sparrow is the Song Sparrow. You’ll frequently first hear one, then see it perched on a prominent branch crooning its melodious refrain. This bird is noticeably brown and white striped with a convergent bullseye spot of brown on its chest. A chest striped or not striped, and with or without this spot, is the starting point for putting a name to any LBJ that might cross your path.

The diminutive Chipping Sparrow is notable for its repetitive, trilled chipping song as well as its jaunty red cap. Adorable. The equally elfin Field Sparrow, often though not always seen in grassy fields, is hands down one of the cutest birds, second only to ducklings and Piping Plover chicks. With its pink bill and wide eyes, it’s just, well, cute.

In the fall, a very pretty sparrow from the far north joins us for the winter: the White-throated Sparrow. Helpfully, this one does have a bright white throat and carols its homesick “Oh, sweet Canada, Canada, Canada” while scratching through the undergrowth.

I’ll hustle through a few of the “fancy,” transient fall sparrows to leave room for the photographs! One that you’d be privileged to find scuffling through the leaf litter is the foxy Fox Sparrow, a robust bruiser of a sparrow with an endearing rusty flair. The elegant White-crowned Sparrow lives up to its name with bright white stripes racing down its crown, and though I don’t know why the Lark Sparrow was named as such, happening upon its striking dark facial markings is a lark. For me, the classiest of the classy sparrows, urban royalty, is the Lincoln’s Sparrow. This pin-striped, peripatetic fellow is a sartorial wonder of subtlety and sophistication. In our city parks, he’s rare but he’s regularly there.

It’s fall. Slow down. Scan through those brown birds weaving through the grass. If you happen upon the even more elusive Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed or Clay-colored Sparrow in the neighborhood, let me know immediately. Matching a name to a sparrow might become a game as addictive as Wordle, but when in doubt, whispering “LBJ” (so that they can’t hear) will do just fine.