In this section are copies of original works of art. All of them are dedicated to helping us live according to unconditional love and compassion, which is the foundation of our peaceful means of bringing true and lasting peace to all of God's creatures, whether they are human beings or other animals.
(Artwork - 158)
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)
The appearance of the White-crowned Sparrow personifies, for me, the word
"elegant". Muted tones of silvery-grey, tan, brown and rust are offset by
sharply crisp black and white and a coral-pink beak. They seem always to
maintain a slender trimness that I've sought to capture in this life-size
oil painting of a migrating male as I see them here in southern Ontario,
each spring, often amid the early-blooming wildflowers of late April, and
early May, such as the trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), Ontario's
provincial flower and prominently featured in the painting. The scene was
inspired by seeing just such a sight early last May at Point Pelee National
Park, Ontario, as well as in the woods behind my back fence.
The species nests from Alaska, through boreal forests to Newfoundland and
Labrador, and south in the west as far as Arizona and California. Northern
birds are migratory, moving as far south in winter as central Mexico and the
West Indies. There are several distinctly marked regional differences, and
I've chosen to paint the eastern, nominate one, which is by far the most
commonly seen here, although the one that nests as far north as the treeless
tundra above the arctic circle, Z. l. gambelli, and occupies much of Canada
from Hudson Bay westward, or birds intermediate between leucophrys and
gambelli, also occur in my region and are identifiable by having more white
in front of the eye.
The family of birds called Emberizide is often extended to include these
"American sparrows", although some specialists separate them out into their
own family, Passerellidae, the American Ornithological Society doing so
formally in 2017. Neither the birds nor I care but it is worth noting that
they are superficially similar to a more common species in my region, the
White-throated Sparrow (Z. albicollis) and spring and fall my garden hosts
both.
The generic name, "Zonotrichia", derives from Ancient Greek words zone,
meaning "band", and thrix, "hair", referring to the striped crowns sported
by both these species (and, in western North America, the Golden-crowned
Sparrow (Z. atricapilla). The species name comes from the word "leukos, for
white, and "ophrus", for eyebrow. Like many related species they are
predominately seed eaters who shift to diets dominated by insects during the
nesting season. They lay three to five prettily marked eggs on or close to
the ground, in tundra, boreal forests and, along the west coast, chaparral
and shrubbery.
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Copyright © Barry Kent MacKay
Barry describes himself as a Canadian artist/writer/naturalist.
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