Date: 2/2/26 1:47 pm From: Greene, Terri B <tgreene...> Subject: [IN-BIRD-L] Tree Sparrows and other yard birds, Monroe County
My first American Tree Sparrow for my yard list here in town showed up last Thursday, January 29, and has been back a number of times, bringing along a couple friends. So excited to see them, especially considering I hadn’t seen many—if any at all—for the final few years I lived in the country.
The Cooper’s Hawk in my yard on Sunday (Feb. 1) had brown, streaky plumage that my old National Geographic Society Field Guide to the Birds of North American (2nd edition) identified as an immature or adult female Cooper’s Hawk. The hawk I saw today had reddish barring on the breast, grayish back, and dark crown, which my guide IDs as a male. Something I read recently said that Cooper’s Hawk adults of both sexes have the reddish bars and gray back . . . which would mean the one I saw yesterday would be an immature. Is that correct? Or is my old guide right?
Lastly, in response to my recent post about a stream of 500+ crows flying over, birder Scott Robeson sent me a link to an interesting article about the large numbers of crows in Bloomington during the winter: https://specials.idsnews.com/iu-crows/ . Scott mentioned that Latimer Woods here in Bloomington is one of the crows’ winter roosts.
Below are recent counts from my yard.
Terri Greene
South of the IU Bloomington campus
Feb 2, 2026 2:20 PM - 2:50 PM
Mourning Dove 7
Cooper's Hawk 1
Tufted Titmouse 1
European Starling 11
House Sparrow 3
American Tree Sparrow 3
Dark-eyed Junco 2
Song Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 4
Feb 1, 2026 12:37 PM
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Feb 1, 2026 9:11 AM - 9:17 AM
Cooper's Hawk 1 Perched in sumac tree with back to bird feeders
Carolina Chickadee 1
Tufted Titmouse 2
American Tree Sparrow 1
Jan 31, 2026
Mourning Dove 47
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 2
Blue Jay 4
Carolina Chickadee 1
Tufted Titmouse 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 1
European Starling 7
Eastern Bluebird 1
American Robin 1
House Sparrow 28
House Finch 3
American Goldfinch 4
American Tree Sparrow 2
Dark-eyed Junco 5
White-throated Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 3
Northern Cardinal 7
Jan 29, 2026 8:40 AM - 8:52 AM
Mourning Dove 36
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Blue Jay 1
Tufted Titmouse 1
European Starling 3
House Sparrow 4
House Finch 4
American Tree Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco 1
Song Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 3
These reports were generated automatically by eBird v3
