Confessions of an Amateur Birder

I usually pride myself on my attention to detail at work, but evidently it hasn't transferred over to my attempts at identifying birds.  It turns out that at least one of my 'song sparrows' is actually a fox sparrow.  I mentioned in one of my posts that I loved the little dance the song sparrow did in the snow and it turns out the 'dance' is called a 'double scratch' and one of the identifying characteristics of the fox sparrow.  They both have a central breast spot which is what I was going by, but the double scratch is a dead giveaway, along with its rufous tail.  And yes, my 'song sparrow' has both!  The fox sparrow also has more gray on its head than the song sparrow.  Here is a picture.

Photo by Glen Tepke   Source:  Boreal Songbird Initiative

Funny how I also didn't notice how much bigger it is than the other sparrows.  It's supposed to travel in flocks according to my Audubon bird book, but it nearly always comes alone or shows up with the juncos.  I think I actually do have some song sparrows as well, but at least one is definitely not.

I also showed my 'harrier' photos to an experienced birder and he thinks it's actually a red-tailed hawk, which would explain why it doesn't act like a harrier!  Hello!  Hawks are among the most difficult birds to identify because their plumage changes with the seasons, which definitely doesn't help me at all since I can't even identify sparrows.

Red-tailed hawk   Source:  Cornell

So now I've confessed my mistakes, but I'll keep trying.