eBirdseed.com Wild Bird Feeding Blog

Attempting to identify some birds I had photographed, I purchased a reference guide for my area. It's filled with colorful meadowlarks, swallows, finches, jays and robins, among many others. Beautiful birds.

Vibrantly colored birds. Birds with distictive markings across the crown, throat, eyeline, feathers.

I leafed through the book to find the little non-descript brown birds which populate my feeding area -- what are they called? The ones which are shades of brown and/or grays. These birds have been born with neutral colored feathering. Their plumage serves as great camouflage, but to the human eye is not as catchy or appealing. The brown birds aren't even listed in the reference book!

Is there some kind of discrimination going on against "less colorful" birds? Are they not considered worthy of our attention? Are we only interested in those with appealing colors?

I got to thinking. Why don't we ever see brown or gray birds memorialized on book covers, stationary, wrapping paper, holiday cards, dinnerware? Where are the brown bird ceramics on nicknack shelves? There's a song about "When the red, red robbin comes bob, bob, bobbin' along." Then there's "There'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover..." Ever heard a song about the gray or brown birds? What is going on here?

I submit that the brown/gray birds are just as wonderful as more colorful ones. From my observations, they are as playful, as hungry, as interesting and, yes, as photogenic.

I welcome and enjoy the brown/gray birds as much as the others.

Thanks and I look forward to your comments!

California Kathryn
Fallbrook, CA