Golden-crowned sparrow

Description:

This is the breeding plumage of the Golden-crowned sparrow. There is a pair of these large sparrows that are year-round residence in my backyard. Easily distinguished from other sparrows with its yellow crown bordered by black bands. Male and female have similar plumage.

Habitat:

Spotted in my backyard. I have areas of dense, low lying vegetation that these birds thrive in. The golden-crowned sparrow is common along the western edge of North America.

Notes:

The golden-crowned sparrow feeds on the ground, where it forages by pecking and scratching. It also occasionally leaps into the air after insects or gleans them from foliage. Its diet, particularly in the winter, consists primarily of plant material; items include seeds, berries, flowers and buds, as well as the occasional crawling insect. The species is an important destroyer of weed seeds on the Pacific Slope, with various ryegrasses, fescues, bromes, pigweeds, chickweeds, mulleins, filarees, common knotweed and poison oak among its known food sources. Paired birds commonly forage together, with the male following the female.