July can be a challenging month for birding. Between the weather (too hot or too much rain), and the growing vegetation hiding all those birds you also have an explosion of juvenile/immatures out of the nest that look like another species entirely. At the same time, you are exposed to a chaotic ensemble of songs and calls everywhere you go. Begging calls, alarm calls, songs, flight calls, you name it, birds are doing it!
Imagine being in a crowd where individuals and groups are speaking different languages, some doing in quiet whispers, others yelling, others putting those words into song and all while moving about throwing the sounds in every direction. Worse, the closer you get to some, the louder they get or they go completely silent indicating you are not welcome here!
Welcome to birding, particularly birding in July.
Larger birds are easier to identify. You are more likely to see them and the larger they are, the less of them you will see or hear all at once.
Smaller birds like warblers and sparrows are more numerous. They tend to keep hidden in the growing vegetation and they look similar unless you get a closer look at the distinct markings they have. On top of that, there are so many calls and songs to know for each bird that it takes many years of attuning your ears to pick out each call/song. Many birds have similar calls with slight variations that can make it even more challenging.
With camera in hand, I do my best to get a picture of the birds so I can go home, download and see if I can identify the bird. On my walk the other day I encountered many sparrows in the shrubs along my route. Their calls had me looking for the source and that is when I noticed one on the branch, relatively unobstructed. My trigger finger clicked away. You have to be quick to get a photo before they move. Seconds are usually all you have.
At home I began my quest of identification. I start with my well-worn “Birds of Alberta” guidebook, go to the Sparrow section and look to see if any seem to be close to the photo I have taken. From there I narrow it down to a few and look further on the internet, going to the “All About Birds” website. I look at their pictures, review the identification and most importantly, listen to the different calls that bird makes.
If I am not sure about my identification, I call in the experts, the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory staff, most notably the bird banders, are my go to source. They know their birds, especially the variations (juveniles, females, males, breeding, non-breeding, yes a lot to know!).
I got confirmation that I was correct in my guess at identification, it was indeed a Clay-coloured Sparrow. This was a first photo for me but as I soon discovered, not the first time I have heard (and likely seen) this bird. Clay-coloured Sparrows are one of the most numerous birds of shrub communities on the northern prairies. They have a buzzy song which I have heard a lot and I have wondered what kind of bird made that noise. Their alarm calls are a sharp chip and for a good reason. Clay-coloured Sparrow young don’t fly when they leave the nest, they hop to the ground, run about 40 feet away from the nest to a thicket where they get fed by their parents. It takes them about 6-8 days before they can fly. Hence the bird perched on the branch, chipping away at me making it clear I am truly unwelcome in that area.
The ID challenge is a daily one for me. But what a challenge to have! There is so much to see and hear that it is like Christmas day over and over again, the presents are overflowing and you can’t keep up to opening the gifts.
Take a deep breath and just enjoy what nature is gifting you, moments of pure joy and a great workout for your mind. When we use all of our senses we keep those neural pathways open and flexible. When you combine that with a sense of wonder, curiosity, joy you will be open to the blessings that life is always giving you. The price? Your attention in the moment.
Happy Birding! (Check out the links on Clay-coloured sparrow, the LSLBO, iNaturalist below.)
Support birds/wildlife in your region. The Lesser Slave Lake region is lucky to have the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory and you can donate to support research and education here: http://www.lslbo.org/support/donations/
Get an ID tool in your pocket, check out the iNaturalist, Seek app, a joint initiative of National Geographic and the California Academy of Sciences: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/seek_app
More about the Clay-coloured Sparrow: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Clay-colored_Sparrow/overview
Listen to the Songs/Calls of the Clay-coloured Sparrow here: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Clay-colored_Sparrow/sounds