Thursday, November 15, 2012

Odd Birds

This year two unusual house sparrows have been visiting my backyard, the darker bird with white wing feathers forming a "v" or heart shape on his back and a lighter sparrow sporting larger white wing patches.

I call them Mr. V and Angel.


I first noticed little Angel while watching quail in late May.







typical house sparrow (left), "Angel" (right)




taking a dust bath

My last sightings of Angel were in July:





Mr. V has been a regular backyard visitor since June.




And he's still here today:


I also observed a strange looking phainopepla one day in October.


For comparison, the picture on the left is of a normal colored male phainopepla with all black head feathers.

Notice the white head feathers on this fellow:






Have a good day!

26 comments:

Annie Jeffries said...

What a delightful group of backyard friends. Like Oliver asked, "More, please?".

Giga said...

Miłych gości miałeś na podwórku. Bardzo lubię wróble. Pozdrawiam.
Guests had a nice back yard. I like sparrows. Yours.

angryparsnip said...

What interesting birds and what a great backyard they have to visit.
When I lived in California I would see birds that looked like Sparrows or Wrens but had green, yellow and blue breasts. I was told they were cross with wild canneries or parrots. Not sure that was true but they were very pretty.
I have seen lots of Cardinals in my yard lately.
The Phainopepla is quite fabulous with his little white head.

cheers, parsnip

Gaelyn said...

Interesting group of anomalies.

Diane AZ said...

Parsnip, When I lived in the San Fernando Valley we would sometimes hear and see parrots and other exotic birds that were assumed to have escaped from Busch Gardens.

Darla said...

Fascinating. I absolutely love how you share your eye for detail and observation.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Beautiful birds ---all of them. The phainopepla with the white head feathers is awesome... What a beauty...

Love the little sparrows also. Wonder what happened to Angel????? Was Mr. V grieving? I remember when one of our female Bluebirds disappeared. Mr. Blue was SO upset for a long time.


Hugs,
Betsy

Karen said...

Hmm, I would say partial leucism in all three birds, but don't hold me to it as I'm not a real expert on birds. Maybe?

Barb said...

Hmmmm - all that white. I think it's something in the dust!

Rohrerbot said...

That is an incredible find with the Phaino......I've never seen that before....I love that you remember your House Finches. They are wonderful to have around the garden and home. Love your bird pictures. So pretty.

Betty Manousos said...

great find!

such beautiful little birds!
excellent photos and commentary.
thanks for this delightful poet.

wishing a wonderful weekend~

Betty Manousos said...

oops, i meant to say "post"

Thérèse said...

You have such an eye!
Probably a new hairdresser around the corner :-)

Teté M. Jorge said...

Loved!!!So cute birds... beautiful shots and post. Thank you!

Warm hug from Brasil.

desertsandbeyond said...

I used to have a white dove that visited us in the mornings. I haven't seen it for a few years. We do have a scrub jay who has been in the neighborhood for nearly 3 years now. He belongs up in the pinyon forest of our local mountains.

Anonymous said...

Interesting sightings! Have you shared your images of the phainopepla with Cornell Lab of Ornithology?

Magpie said...

Such unusual markings and how observant of you to notice them! They do become like friends then don't they? It looks like the one guy was scared or shocked into having white "hair". :)

Betsy Grant said...

Nice to visit your blog again. Your photos are as beautiful as ever!

Martha Z said...

It would be interesting to know if these are genetic variants or due to environmental factors while developing in the egg.

Adriano said...

Diane!

Wonderful Birds, I love!

Good week!

Brasil Friend.

Betty Manousos said...

happy thanksgiving!!

xx

Magia da Inês said...

♡¸.•°
Olá!
Mais uma foto linda e inspirada série de fotos!

Bom fim de semana!
Beijinhos do Brasil

✿ °•.¸♡¸.•°✿

Lrong Lim said...

You are very lucky to have these two birds at your place... must be a joy just to watch them...

Celeste said...

Poor little Angel didn't look so good in those last two photos, I hope she made it OK. Very cool Phainopepla.

betchai said...

you always find wonderful creatures in your area, Diane, they are always a sight to wonder.

Debbie Lo said...

Loved all the bird photos. They are just so pretty. Odd how that black one has white on his head. He's really pretty too!