Brownish back streaked with dark brown; breast, sides, and flanks grayish brown. Bill dusky above, pale below. Adult: yellow patch tops black crown; less distinct in winter. Immature: less-distinct ...

Additional reporting by Rachel Maidl It’s easy to lump all sparrow bird types together: “Yep, looks like a sparrow to me.” ...

The white-crowned sparrows have arrived, right on time. These long-distance migrants are prompt with a reputation for their punctuality. Instead of dribbling in, they tend to migrate as a flock, ...

While birding brushy thickets in Yakima from fall through early spring you may see a large sparrow that doesn’t seem to have any standout field marks. If your bird has a small splotch of golden on its ...

Have you been hearing new birds? Spring and summer are the main seasons for singing birds, but the relative quiet of autumn can make certain sounds stand out as new migrants arrive. In the ...

Birds with bold crown coloring are dominant over those with duller crown colors. Though highly territorial on their summer breeding grounds, golden-crowned sparrows form winter flocks with the same ...

One of the most common sparrows, the house sparrow has a charming mix of brown, black, and white feathers. Males have a distinctive grey crown, while females are more subtly coloured. This beautiful ...

Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Bruce Lyon initially began the sparrow observations as a lab course. Over the last twenty years, the program has involved nearly 100 UC Santa Cruz ...

Some transplanted Easterners dismiss California’s idea of seasons: do we really call 50 degree temperatures and a bit of rain winter weather? But of course we have seasons, and to observe the ...