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SOOTY FOX SPARROW

Museum Specimen - Longmire (2700).

In the 1931 A.O.U. Chock List the fox sparrows are divided into sixteen races or sub-species. Of these, six sub-species breed north of Washington and should pass through our coastal district, and perhaps our park, in migration. It would take much collecting and a long series of skins to identify these birds and complete the records - a project that, we believe, should not be attempted in the park. Now and then we take a bird and send it to a museum having such a series and have it identified.

The breeding range of the sooty fox sparrow is described as Vancouver Island, the San Juan Islands and the northwestern coast of Washington, the birds migrating in winter as far south as California.

It is a large sparrow, in color a uniformly warm sepia-brown on the back, head and tail; white underparts, the upper portions of which are covered with triangular, arrow-like spots of brown perhaps a shade darker than the back; lower belly remains white.

Dawson describes the nest as "a bulky structure made of mosses, grasses, twigs, woody fibre and weed stems lined with dry grasses of a contrasting color, and is placed in thickets or saplings. Eggs, four greenish-blue spotted or clouded with reddish-brown.

This bird migrates through the low Puget Sound country in spring and fall. (*)

(*) NOTE: In addition to the sooty sparrow there are:

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SLATE-COLORED FOX SPARROW

Other common names: Slate-colored Sparrow.

Museum Specimens - Mazama Ridge (6000); Frog Heaven (4500).

Here is a fox sparrow that breeds commonly on Rainier. We have summer records from all sides at an elevation of 3000 feat or higher. Taylor and Shaw record them from Reflection Lake, Palisades, Yakima Park, Windy Gap, St. Andrews Park, Paradise and Longmire. We can add Mystic Lake and Frog Heaven, the latter being a popular nesting ground.

As the name implies, this sparrow is slate-colored above which distinguishes it from the Alaska birds. The white underparts have triangle-shaped spots of brown on the throat and chest; sides are striped with brown; tail a more reddish brown; spots of white show below the eye.

They nest on the ground or in low bushes. At Frog Heaven the nests were in the short, stunted alpine trees, well concealed, and made of bark strips wrapped around a well-made cup of dried grasses. The three or four eggs have a greenish background heavily marked with reddish brown. One nest found at Frog Heaven contained young ready to fly on June 20; another contained four half-incubated eggs on June 21.

The slate-colored sparrow arrives early - before the snow has disappeared from the sub-alpine sections. At that time they may be confused with the Sierra Hermit thrush, both birds spending most of their time in the thick alpine trees.

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LINCOLN'S SPARROW

Other common names: Lincoln's Song Sparrow; Lincoln's Finch.

Museum Specimens - Frog Heaven (4500); Longmire (2700); Reflection Lakes (4800).

Some bird-writers claim that the Lincoln's sparrow is like the song sparrow and that one might be taken for the other. Here in the park we can't agree on that, perhaps because we see more of the Lincoln's and, again, ours is a very dark, rusty song sparrow.

These birds are shy and retiring, given to sneaking and creeping through the grass and brush. They are found in swampy sections or near water where the banks have cover. The immediate slopes from Reflection Lake is a favorite nesting ground, and in summer they inhabit the Longmire meadows. Later, in September, they appear in scattering flocks, feeding on the slopes of the Sourdough Range with other sparrows and pipits.

They have distinctive colorings of their own. The back and head, though brown, have a decided gray cast and the narrow black stripes are broader along the back than on the head. There is a shouldered area dividing the head and body markings that is grayish and less striped; the sides of the head are grayish; the white underparts are streaked on the throat and chest with broken black lines, dividing in the center and continuing down the flanks, leaving the lower parts white. The most conspicuous marking, however, is the broad, buffy band across the chest continuing down the sides. This chest band distinguishes it from any other of our sparrows.

Nests found at Reflection Lake were made of coarse grasses and flower stems lined with finer grass. One nest concealed in a squaw-grass plant contained five white eggs covered with reddish-brown spots, heavily marked on the larger end. Another nest built just off the ground in a frail willow contained four eggs. The former was about fifty feet from the water's edge, the latter on a very wet bank about 150 feet from the water. Both birds flushed at a few feet and disappeared in the brush like meadow mice.

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RUSTY SONG SPARROW

Museum Specimens - Longmire (2700).

This little door-step favorite, the song sparrow, needs little description. In western Washington he is with us every day in the year - friendly, unafraid, and a welcome guest in our gardens and berry patches. His is the first bird note heard when the rainy season is over; in February, when the sun peeps out in the morning, his soft, gentle trill gives assurance that the trees and shrubs will again be green.

They are none too plentiful up here on "The Mountain"; the winter is too long and there is too much snow. They occupy scattered areas - Longmire, Mowich Lake, Reflection Lake, Paradise, Lake James, Tahoma Creek - in brushy sections all around the mountain.

In the lowlands the birds begin nesting the last of March, and no doubt some pairs have three broods a year as fresh eggs are commonly found on July 4. These, of course, are the birds that stay in one locality all year. At the park boundaries there are pairs that also stay in one locality and nest fairly early, having two families a year. The birds of our higher areas get out when the snows come and it is likely they are the birds that make short migrations as far south, perhaps, as California. By the time they are back the following spring there is time for only one family.

The nest is placed low in a bush or shrub and made of dead leaves, plant stems and grass heavily lined with lighter colored grasses. The cup is small compared to the size of the nest. Three to five eggs are laid, with a pale-greenish background heavily spotted and marked with reddish-brown.

As the name implies, our bird is decidedly dark brown and rusty on the back; underparts dull white streaked on the throat and breast with brown lines. These lines almost form a brown spot on the breast, and there is a distinct grayish line over the eye.

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EASTERN SNOW BUNTING

Other common names: Snow Flake; Snow Bird.

Snow storms and snow buntings seem to come together - that is, when they visit this region from the far north. The white bodies of the birds, in their undulating flight, blend with the falling, wind-blown snowflakes, and large flocks, in passing, quickly vanish from sight in the storm. Again, on some winter day, little scattered flocks may be found along the ocean beaches and on the sand dunes.

I once hiked down the Westport beaches near Gray's Harbor, Washington. There was a strong, southerly gale blowing. Now and then several snow buntings would arise ahead of me and were whisked away by the wind. Along the high beach were scattered logs washed in by the waves and embedded in the sand. They were lying lengthwise with the gale and offered little protection. When the water had left the log on the beach, the retreating wave had scooped a little depression at the end in which several birds would squat to get out of the gale, sheltered by the butt of the log. There was room for only a few birds per log, so that it took several log ends to protect the flock.

The plumage of the snow flake changes with the seasons. In summer or breeding time in the far north its dress is immaculate - pure white with contrasting black shoulders, wing-tips and central tail feathers. In winter, when they visit the park at times, the black markings have become tinged with brown or rusty, this color also appearing faintly on the breast and head.

Its nest, made of grass and feather-lined, is well concealed in the tundra. Four to six eggs, white spotted and blotched with different shades of brown, are laid.

Large flocks are occasionally encountered in winter in the open country on the east side of the Cascades. They feed on weed seeds of plants appearing above the snow. Cold weather seems to have little effect on them, and if it storms they just wait until it is over.

One large flock was recorded in the park at Indian Henry's on October 1, 1924. There was a foot of snow on the ground. This is our only park record. We might have more visits from these interesting birds if we had sufficient food supply for them, but the depth of the snow here covers all the dead, seed-bearing stalks.

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