IT'S ALL ABOUT THE STRIPES

What is that little brown stripey bird??  

How many times have you asked that question?!  (We often call them an "LBJ" - "Little Brown Job".)  Frequently identifying these birds is all about the stripes.  Start with, are there any stripes?  For example, you may recognize the winter goldfinches at your feeder, small, greenish-brown, dull, but striking black wings - with white wing bars (stripes)!  (See picture below - the goldfinch is on the left, be aware that some of the goldfinch is behind the black bar.)

American Goldfinch and Pine Siskin

But if you are looking carefully at that flock of goldfinches at your feeder, you might notice a stripey bird that is the same size (see bird on the right in above picture).  In this picture, that is a Pine Siskin.  They are not always around here, but sometimes will show up in the winter.  Let's zero in on the siskin.  (Sorry about the fuzziness of the pictures - they were taken through a window from about 70' away)

Pine Siskin

First, we notice - STRIPES!  The bird is on the nyjer (thistle) feeder, but isn't a goldfinch!  OK, is it a pine siskin or a house finch or a sparrow or...  Well, it is hanging out with the goldfinch, it is winter, so let's check for siskin markings.  Lots of stripes and some yellow highlights near the tail and under the wings.  (Just to make the ID more difficult, though, there is a lot of variation in the siskins' coloration.)  Look for the yellow; if you see that, look at the tail shape - forked.  Now note the bold black or dark brown streaking on the wings, edged with buff or white and sometimes yellow (not in the bird above).  The stripes on the back/shoulder area are more muted and less distinct than the wings. If you see the belly, it too will be striped.  Now, check the beak - small and sharply pointed!

The beak can be a good distinguishing field mark.  Notice the beak of the bird below and compare it to the siskin.  Don't be confused by the white thing - that is a safflower seed, not his beak or tongue.  But notice that his beak is chunkier.

House Finch with seed in his mouth

This gent is easy to ID with his chunky beak and the red on his head and breast.  He is a house finch.  (Now it is often quite difficult to tell a house finch from a purple finch, but we aren't going into that here today!)  Be aware that the amount and placement of the red varies from bird to bird, but there is usually some on the head, breast and rump. (See picture below with the red showing between the wings as they lie on his rump.  This bird also has some reddish tinge on his back.)  The wings are boldly striped in black or dark brown with white trim.  The male house finch does have stripes on his body, but they are muted.  Notice in the picture above, you can kind of see the stripes on his breast and in the picture below, the muted stripes are visible on his back and in the shoulder region.

Male House Finch

Let's go to the female house finch (below).  Definitely an LBJ...  although, the house finch is a bit larger than the sparrows, goldfinch and pine siskin.

Female House Finch

This is the bird with which we started this post - but now you can almost see her head and beak.  If you could see her beak, it would be much easier to ID her as a house finch.  Both male and female have the blurry streaking - you can see it well in the picture above. Tail is slightly notched, but may appear squared (look at the picture of the male above this one to see the notched effect).  The female house finch is one of the most common unknown feeder birds.  Oddly enough, the most distinguishing feature (other than the beak) is the blurry, indistinct stripes.


Then there are the sparrows.  Arggg...  We have three around here in the winter that I can usually ID correctly, the White-throated Sparrow, the American Tree Sparrow, and the Song Sparrow.  The bird on top of the feeder in the picture below is an American Tree Sparrow.  A distinguishing feature of the tree sparrow is the grey head with chestnut colored cap and eye stripe.  It has a buff breast with a faint breast spot (not visible in the picture). Check the bill, too, as the American Tree Sparrow has a bi-colored bill (dark top mandible and yellow bottom mandible.  The tree sparrow is easily confused with both the field sparrow and the chipping sparrow, as all three have a chestnut cap, but only the tree sparrow has a breast spot.  

Beware, though, you can't go by breast spot alone.  A Song Sparrow has a breast spot (darker and more obvious), but it has an obviously stripey breast -- no stripes on the tree sparrow's breast.  The song sparrow also has chestnut or brown on its head, but frequently shows a buff stripe through the cap.  

Can you ID the bird on the bottom part of the feeder?

American Tree Sparrow on top and a Male House Finch with his head in the feeder

Last one for today is the White-throated Sparrow (see below)

White-throated Sparrow

The White-throated sparrow has a stripey back and some faint spots or stripes on the sides, but the belly is white or buff, sometimes with very indistinct spots or stripes.  Yes, it has a white throat, trimmed in black (not visible on the bird above), but one of the real distinguishing features is the yellow lore (the area between the bill and the eye).  If you see that on an LBJ around here, with a white throat and black head stripes, you can be pretty sure it is a White-throated Sparrow.  The WTSP also comes in a less obvious tan stripe version, where the white throat, stripes and belly you see on the bird above are less obvious because they are tan.  

(Uh, oh!  I forgot about the house sparrow - an invasive species, introduced in 1850, that actually is a finch, not a sparrow.  They are usually the only sparrow in urban areas.  We don't have any here in the woods at our house (thankfully!), so it didn't cross my mind.  Wing stripes & bars, but no belly stripes. Black under the beak and in breeding season, the black extends into the breast on the male.  Grey cap.) 

So, don't overlook all of those stripey LBJs on your feeder - look more closely, grab your field guide and start with the stripey birds in this post.

Left feeder, American Goldfinch & Pine Siskin.
Right feeder top, Black-capped Chickadee, bottom two are male House Finch