LINCOLN’S SPARROW GALLERY
(Melospiza lincolnii)
eBird provides this description of the Lincoln’s Sparrow: Slightly smaller than Song Sparrow, with finer streaking on breast. Also note thin pale eyering, bright buffy breast that contrasts with white belly, and often peaked crown. Prefers thickets and shrubby areas. Beware of juvenile Song Sparrows in late summer, which can look buffy and show finer streaks than adults. Infrequently visits feeders.
All About Birds provides this descriptive information about the Lincoln’s Sparrow: The dainty Lincoln’s Sparrow has a talent for concealing itself. It sneaks around the ground amid willow thickets in wet meadows, rarely straying from cover. When it decides to pop up and sing from a willow twig, its sweet, jumbling song is more fitting of a House Wren than a sparrow. Though its song might conceal its sparrowness, its plumage says otherwise. This sparrow looks as if it is wearing a finely tailored suit with a buffy mustachial stripe and delicate streaking down its buffy chest and sides.
I saw my first Lincoln’s Sparrow on the morning of April 16, 2020, at Scout Pond in Warbler Woods. I also saw a Lincoln’s Sparrow later when I walked over to the Old Barn. What a fine looking little Sparrow!
“Cool Facts” About the Lincoln’s Sparrow From All About Birds…
- Sometimes, singing a beautiful song might not be enough to win over a female. In a laboratory study, female Lincoln’s Sparrows were more attracted to males that sang during colder mornings more than those singing during warmer mornings. This may be because males singing in the cold showed off more than just their song; singing in the cold requires more energy and could mean that males singing in the cold would make better mates.
- John James Audubon named the Lincoln’s Sparrow after his travel companion Thomas Lincoln, who accompanied him on an expedition to the coast of Labrador. The expedition found the sparrow in a valley in Natashquan, Quebec, and Mr. Lincoln was the only person who managed to bring back a specimen for study.
- The Lincoln’s Sparrow shows less geographical variation in song than any other species in its genus, perhaps a result of high dispersal rates among juveniles.
- The oldest recorded Lincoln’s Sparrow was a male, and at least 7 years, 11 months old when he was recaptured and released during banding operations in Colorado on 2002. He had been banded in the same state in 1995.