The house sparrow is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. It is a small bird that has a typical length of 16 cm (6.3 in) and a mass of 24–39.5 g (0.85–1.39 oz). Females and young birds are coloured pale brown and grey, and males have brighter black, white, and brown markings. One of about 25 species in the genus Passer, the house sparrow is native to most of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin, and a large part of Asia. Its intentional or accidental introductions to many regions, including parts of Australasia, Africa, and the Americas, make it the most widely distributed wild bird.
The greater white-fronted goose is a species of goose, closely related to the smaller lesser white-fronted goose. The greater white-fronted goose is migratory, breeding in northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Russia, and winters farther south in North America, Europe and Asia. It is named for the patch of white feathers bordering the base of its bill: albifrons comes from the Latin albus "white" and frons "forehead". In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it has been known as the white-fronted goose; in North America it is known as the greater white-fronted goose, and this name is also increasingly adopted internationally. Even more distinctive are the salt-and-pepper markings on the breast of adult birds, which is why the goose is colloquially called the "specklebelly" in North America.
The northern shrike is a large songbird species in the shrike family (Laniidae) native to North America and Siberia. Long considered a subspecies of the great grey shrike, it was classified as a distinct species in 2017. Six subspecies are recognised.
The bar-tailed godwit is a large and strongly migratory wader in the family Scolopacidae, which feeds on bristle-worms and shellfish on coastal mudflats and estuaries. It has distinctive red breeding plumage, long legs, and a long upturned bill. Bar-tailed godwits breed on Arctic coasts and tundra from Scandinavia to Alaska, and overwinter on coasts in temperate and tropical regions of Australia and New Zealand. The migration of the subspecies Limosa lapponica baueri across the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to New Zealand is the longest known non-stop flight of any bird, and also the longest journey without pausing to feed by any animal. The round-trip migration for this subspecies is over 29,000 km (18,020 mi).
The dark-eyed junco is a species of junco, a group of small, grayish New World sparrows. The species is common across much of temperate North America and in summer it ranges far into the Arctic. It is a variable species, much like the related fox sparrow, and its systematics are still not completely resolved.
The song sparrow is a medium-sized New World sparrow. Among the native sparrows in North America, it is easily one of the most abundant, variable and adaptable species.
The American tree sparrow, also known as the winter sparrow, is a medium-sized New World sparrow.
The Savannah sparrow is a small New World sparrow that is the only member of the genus Passerculus. It is a widespread and abundant species that occupies open grassland habitats in North America.
The grasshopper sparrow is a small New World sparrow. It belongs to the genus Ammodramus, which contains three species that inhabit grasslands and prairies. Grasshopper sparrows are sometimes found in crop fields and they will readily colonize reclaimed grassland. In the core of their range, grasshopper sparrows are dependent upon large areas of grassland where they avoid trees and shrubs. They seek out heterogenous patches of prairie that contain clumps of dead grass or other vegetation where they conceal their nest, and also contain barer ground where they forage for insects, spiders, and seeds. Grasshopper sparrows are unusual among New World sparrows in that they sing two distinct song types, the prevalence of which varies with the nesting cycle. The primary male song, a high trill preceded by a stereotyped series of short chips, is reminiscent of the sounds of grasshoppers and is the origin of this species' name. Like some other birds of the central North American grasslands, this species also moves around a lot, not only via annual migrations, but individuals frequently disperse between breeding attempts or breeding seasons. Grasshopper sparrows are in steep decline across their range, even in the core of the breeding distribution in the tallgrass prairies of the central Great Plains. The Florida grasshopper sparrow is highly endangered.
The dusky seaside sparrow was a non-migratory subspecies of the seaside sparrow, found in Florida in the natural salt marshes of Merritt Island and along the St. Johns River. The last definite known individual died on Walt Disney World's Discovery Island in 1987, and the subspecies was officially declared extinct in December 1990.
Amak Island is an uninhabited island in Aleutians East Borough, Alaska, United States. The island lies north of the western tip of the Alaska Peninsula, and northwest of the mainland city of Cold Bay. The island's land area is 5.828 square miles (15.09 km2) and its maximum elevation is 1,601 feet (488 m). The island's volcano, Mount Amak, last erupted in 1796.
The golden-crowned sparrow is a large New World sparrow found in the western part of North America.
The rufous-crowned sparrow is a small American sparrow. This passerine is primarily found across the Southwestern United States and much of the interior of Mexico, south to the transverse mountain range, and to the Pacific coast to the southwest of the transverse range. Its distribution is patchy, with populations often being isolated from each other. Twelve subspecies are generally recognized, though up to eighteen have been suggested. This bird has a brown back with darker streaks and gray underparts. The crown is rufous, and the face and supercilium are gray with a brown or rufous streak extending from each eye and a thick black malar streak.
The California thrasher is a large member of family Mimidae found primarily in chaparral habitat in California in the United States and Baja California in Mexico. It is the only species of the genus Toxostoma throughout most of its range.
Red fox sparrow is the collective name for the most brightly colored taxa in the American sparrow genus Passerella, the Passerella iliaca iliaca group.
The sooty fox sparrow contains the darkest-colored taxa in the genus Passerella. It is currently classified as a "subspecies group" within the fox sparrow pending wider-spread acceptance of species status. It has long been suspected to be a separate evolutionary lineage due to morphological distinctness, and this is confirmed by analysis of mtDNA sequence and haplotype data. This group appears to be most closely related to the thick-billed and/or slate-colored fox sparrows.
The slate-colored fox sparrow group comprises the Rocky Mountain taxa in the genus Passerella. It is currently classified as a "subspecies group" within the fox sparrows pending a more-thorough genetic assay of all forms.
The thick-billed fox sparrow group comprises the peculiarly large-billed Sierra Nevadan taxa in the genus Passerella. It is currently classified as a "subspecies group" within the fox sparrow, pending wider-spread acceptance of its species status.
The rufous-collared sparrow or Andean sparrow is an American sparrow found in a wide range of habitats, often near humans, from the extreme south-east of Mexico to Tierra del Fuego, and the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean. It has diverse vocalizations, which have been intensely studied since the 1970s, particularly by Paul Handford and Stephen C. Lougheed (UWO), Fernando Nottebohm and Pablo Luis Tubaro (UBA). Local names for this bird include the Portuguese tico-tico, the Spanish copetón ("tufted") in Colombia, as well as chingolo and chincol, comemaíz "corn eater" in Costa Rica, and Cigua de Constanza in the Dominican Republic.
Donald Ryder Dickey (1887–1932) was an American ornithologist, mammalogist, and nature photographer. He collected 50,000 specimens and produced 7,500 photographs and moving images of nature subjects. At his death, his collection of bird and mammal specimens was the largest private collection in the United States.
