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The black-chinned sparrow is a handsome and somewhat junco-like bird that breeds in thick, old chaparral vegetation and other dry brushland in the southwestern US. Its sweet, accelerating 'bouncing-ball' song begins to be heard in spring, but where I live these attractive little sparrows disappear by August. These birds (males with sharply-delineated black throat patches, females with slightly less clear-cut markings) were photographed at the top of the Box Springs Mountains above Riverside, California. Many are sitting in chamise (Adenostema), which seems to be a favored plant for black-chins in southern California. Most of them were quite reluctant to come out into the open. More photos of this species are here. |
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