#rufous-collared sparrow

[birdirectory]

rufous-collared sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis) by Patrice

[proton-wobbler]

Round 1, Poll 5

White-throated Magpie-Jay vs Rufous-collared Sparrow

sources under cut

White-throated Magpie-Jay Propaganda

While most cooperative breeders have young males stay behind to raise chicks, this species has the female offspring hang back in their home territory to help with future brrods, while the males disperse. Floating males are allowed to join in on groups while foraging, however, outside of breeding season.

Because of their social pattern, and the fact that resource guarding is not done by the males, the best way they seem to have to show off is during a predator encounter. The males will often fly directly at a low-threat predator (or even a dove) and begin making some of their many (60+) vocalizations as a way to show off, as this is the time when they're being paid attention to.

Rufous-collared Sparrow Propaganda

"They're EVERYWHERE here they make my day every time I see them I love their silly little hairdos and how each flock has a slightly different call"

Local names for this species include: tico-tico (Portuguese), copetón, chingolo, chincol (Columbian), and comemaíz (Costa Rican). There are between 25-29 subspecies of this bird, likely due to their large range (Southern Mexico to the tip of Argentina) and their non-migratory habits.

Their vocal range is highly variable, with each "neighborhood" of birds having its own dialect even without being separate subspecies from each other. It's been shown that these dialects are also incredibly stable, lasting up to 30 years since the original study which categorized them.

Image Sources: Magpie-Jay (Cory Gregory); Sparrow (David Monroy Rengifo)

[camouflage-birds]

Rufous-collared Sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis)

© Dan Waggoner

[phosani]

Rufous-collared Sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis chilensis)

photo credit: Gonzalo K. Martínez

[lowcountry-gothic]

Nariño, by Angelita Chamorro.

[atamagaitai]

rufous-collared sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis) by Raquel Fernandes

POBRE PASSARO MORREU PRESO NAS GRADES…COITADINHO…

[spinus-pinus]

Rufous-collared Sparrow Zonotrichia capensis

8/15/2024 São Paulo, Brazil

Luciano Bernardes via iNaturalist, CC-BY-NC

[birdblues]

Rufous-collared Sparrow

[anam2s]

Rufous-collared sparrow / Andean sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis)

[todaysbird]

Today’s bird is this rufous-collared sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis) peeking into a lecture. Proud of my boy, he’s turning his life around

[birdirectory]

rufous-collared sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis) by Ricardo Q. T. Rodrigues

[proton-wobbler]

Loser's Bracket, Poll 14

Image Sources: Macaw (Dietmar PETRAUSCH); Woodpecker (Claudia Brasileiro); Frogmouth (JJ Harrison); Sparrow (David Monroy Rengifo)

[genericpuff]

Oh boy, I am from Chile and it took me a while to choose what to talk about, so i'm gonna do an autism and share some birds i like

This is a rufous-collared sparrow, they are really small and round, they hang with house sparrows, but in my own experience they are much smarter. The ones in my college campus know how to get in and out of buildings

This is a Fire-eyed Diucon, some people think they're evil because of the red eyes. I was able to handle one (had to get it out of my house and away from the cats), and they're really soft! And totally not evil!

And this is a tufted tit-tyrant, they are really really tiny and they always look angry, i also see them at my college campus.

I don't want to spam with too many bird photos so i'll stop there :'>>>

BIRRRRDDDSSS

sorry i'm doing that old people thing where you hit a certain age and suddenly birds are just. the coolest thing ever. look at them birds. goddamn. the tufted tit-tyrant is a mood fr fr LOL also the fire-eyed diucon def looks super soft 🥺❤️ thank you for sharing your bird photos, i do NOT mind bird spam at all, i am literally a bird in spirit LOL

[phosani]

Rufous-collared Sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis chilensis)

photo credit: polaage

[herpsandbirds]

Rufous-collared Sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis), family Passerellidae, Mindo, Ecuador

Photograph by Rafa Pardo

[anonsally]

Day 2 in Chile: Birding along the central coast

After a decent night's sleep, we got up early this morning for our birding tour. The guide and a driver picked us up at 8am and we had an epic day of birding! It was cold but mostly sunny, so not as cold as yesterday except when it was very windy. The guide told us that this is one of the best times of year to visit Chile, bird-wise, because a lot of birds that breed further south migrate here in the winter... as do a lot of birds who breed further north!

We did spend a lot of the day in the car in between birding, but that was fine actually as it gave Wife (who is an introvert) a break from interacting and it also meant less time in the sun and wind. And we saw lots of birds, nearly all of which were new for me.

The guide hasn't shared the eBird list with me yet so I'm sure I won't remember everything, but here's what I remember (not chronologically, and I've tried to put my favorites near the top, but not really in order and they were all exciting in one way or another):

Humboldt penguins! We were pretty lucky; I think there were about 30 of them hanging out on a small island preserve very close to the beach.

Inca terns. These were very beautiful and unusual-looking terns, dark grey with long white whiskers and red beaks, with a yellow spot at the base, and red feet.

Grey gulls starting to get their breeding plumage. I thought these were very cute, elegant gulls.

A giant hummingbird. Which... is not an exaggeration. It was enormous. Too big to hover. But clearly hummingbird shaped. Totally incongruous!

Tufted tit-tyrant. (The Tufted Tit-Tyrants is my new band.) Probably one of the cutest birds I've ever seen.

Peruvian boobies

Peruvian pelicans--not too different from the brown pelicans we see at home, but larger.

Three kinds of cormorant: Most were neotropic cormorants, but we also saw a couple of guanay cormorants, and several of the very beautiful red-legged cormorant.

Southern lapwings. Kind of a patchwork pattern of coloration.

Two rufous-chested dotterels, one of which was getting its breeding plumage.

Three kinds of cinclodes: gray-flanked (which breed in the Andes but winter on rocky beaches), seaside (larger), and (I think?) buff-winged.

Two kinds of oystercatchers: blackish and American (I don't think I'd seen the American kind before; the ones in California are black oystercatchers).

Yellow-billed pintails

Yellow-billed teals

Diuca finches

Lake duck (similar to a ruddy duck)

Rufous-collared sparrows (apparently more common than house sparrows in Chile, and infinitely cuter!)

Coscoroba swans, which looked less mean and more friendly than our usual swans

red-gartered coots

Great shrike-tyrants

Long-tailed meadowlark. Startlingly red face and front.

Chimango caracaras, which were the raptors I'd seen on the way from the airport. Apparently there are no corvids here, but these fill that ecological niche. We saw two of them eating a dead meadowlark.

Dusky tapaculo. The guide made limited use of playback in the one foresty stop. This bird is very shy but we did manage to get a decent view of it.

Variable hawk.

Harris's hawk

Great grebes

White-tufted grebes

Brown-hooded gulls

Chilean mockingbirds

Two kinds of swallows: blue-and-white and Chilean

Chiloe wigeons

black vultures

a rufous-tailed plantcutter

Austral thrushes

Austral blackbirds

We also saw sea lions and a couple of otters!

We had them drop us off at a restaurant in Viña Del Mar, which saved them some driving and meant we could try a restaurant we were interested in. We drank Pisco sours (a great cocktail!) and--as usual--ordered too much food. Then we managed to get a bus back to Valparaíso and had a steep walk back up to the hotel, as the funiculars don't run late.