Monday, December 06, 2010

LBJ - Who Am I? - Quiz 1

LBJs - or Little Brown Jobs (sometimes called LBBs, Little Brown Birds) - are often, but not always sparrows.

LBJs often give people fits. They all look alike: small, brown, streaked, and spotted. Even the ones that I am sure that I have nailed and could never mis-identify, show up with variations that may make me look and think twice, especially when the bird in question is among a flock of familiar birds and is not expected.

Winter is starting to swirl outside the windows, and the number and variety of birds coming to the feeders, or being seen when out walking, is much less than just a few weeks ago.

So it seems a good time to do something a little different - like testing the sparrows and other LBJs. Plus I have lots of photos that I need something to do with.

Here are a few sparrows to start off. Test yourself. If you feel like it, identify them in a comment. In a few days, I'll come back with my IDs.

Who Am I?

LBJ #1

LBJ #2

LBJ #3

LBJ #4
LBJ #5
Good birding!

7 comments:

Chris said...

Wow these are superb pictures Chris. I do not know about the LBJ, but your post is beautiful!

Unknown said...

Well here goes.1-Song Sparrow,2 Field Sparrow,3 White-Crowned Sparrow, 4 House Sparrow & 5 Savanah Sparrow. I find I'ding sparrows really hard. There are so many varieties. Great Photos.Boom & Gary from the Vermilon River.

Folkways Note Book said...

Chris -- I'll wait for your answers. I don't want to flunk the test publicly. -- barbara

swenglishexpat said...

First of all I have to say how much I enjoy your superb images. Re LBJs, I have my own little story, if you like. For a long time there was occasionally a bird in my hedges and shrubs that sometimes ventured out into the open, a proper Little Brown Bird. It took me a long time to realise that it was indeed a Dunnock. I had to consult my European bird book. It was only the stripy back that got me on the right track.

Noushka said...

Unfortunately I don not know much about those Little BB's and many are the dull looking females of very colorful species.
But N° 3 looks like a "dangerous" CIA guy!!... "Emberiza cia", the Rock bunting!! We had them in South Africa!
I'll go no further, but I enjoy the idea of the quizz!
We do the same on our Odonata forum, about dragonflies!! It's fun!!
Lovely pictures, I'll certainly come back to see who they are!!
Have a great day,
Cheers,Chris!

Hilke Breder said...

Ok. Here it goes:
#1 Song Sparrow
#2 American Field Sparrow
#3 White-throated Sparrow
#4 Song Sparrow
#5 Savannah Sparrow

Unknown said...

I've been 'offline' for weeks, but I swear I didn't peek - although I admit I was sorely tempted. This is hard! After spending WAY too much time deliberating about #3, I find myself in complete agreement with Hilke:
1 Song
2 Field
3 White-throated
4 Song
5 Savannah

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