OCTOBER USHERS IN many of the migrating sparrow species, such as this handsome white-crowned sparrow. These birds nest in the far north of Canada and Alaska but reliably travel through the region each spring and fall. They are worth watching for at feeders and foraging on the ground below. Unlike many songbirds, both sexes have the same plumage. (Betsy Bloom/Daily News photo)

It’s October and the pace of change in the region is accelerating as winter draws closer.

A wave of warblers — the majority the very common yellow-rumped, a mostly black, white and gray songbird with bright yellow patches — descended en masse on the yard in the last week of September and provided an entertaining sight as they hawked like flycatchers after the insects still available. They proved too fast and then too fleeting to photograph before moving on.

Friday had the first white-crowned sparrows, again common enough during migration but for our region only passing through — these sparrows nest in the Arctic and may winter in Illinois and even southeastern Wisconsin, but not much farther north. They are, however, willing to visit feeders, so can be regularly seen while in the neighborhood.

The bold black and white stripes atop their head make them easy to distinguish from any other sparrow with the exception of the white-throated, which as the name implies also has a white bib under its bill and a yellow spot in front of its eye.

October usually sees the peak of the sparrow migration, said Ryan Brady, conservation biologist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Along with the white-crowned and white-throated, fox and song sparrows will be turning up as well and may linger as long as the weather stays hospitable. All are short-range migrants, so don’t have to travel great distances to reach wintering grounds.

Unusually high numbers of Harris’s sparrows have been reported coming through Wisconsin this year, Brady said. This is North America’s largest sparrow and the only songbird that breeds in Canada and nowhere else in the world, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds website, https://www.allaboutbirds.org.

I’ve never been lucky enough to see one, but they are unmistakable with black that extends from crown to throat bib, contrasting with a pink bill. The belly is white, the back and back of head tawny in non-breeding birds, with a gray head in breeding birds. They, too, can be seen at platform feeders that offer black-oil sunflower seeds or cracked corn.

Sparrows often prefer to forage on the ground — watch for fox sparrows, especially, chicken-scratching among the leaf litter — so scattering some seeds at the base of the feeder might lure them in as well.

Though not colorful, sparrows often are handsome birds in their own right, with a variety of patterns in their plumage, Brady said.

The neotropical migrants, such as the rose-breasted grosbeaks, left in September, as did most of the hummingbirds, which tend to be gone by about Sept. 20, Brady said. A few late stragglers can still come through, so feeders might be worth keeping up until freezing temperatures develop in earnest.

Many of the migratory raptors have gone through Wisconsin, too — broad-winged hawks that form spectacular “kettles” that can have hundreds of birds moved through in September, Brady said. But early October usually features major movement of turkey vultures.

The second half of October should usher in waterfowl in earnest, especially the diver species such as scaup, bufflehead and mergansers, Brady said. Some dabblers, such as teal and wigeon, have already set off south, as they winter in Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America, even northern South America. The farther the flight, the earlier the departure.