tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447840137717824621.post6803509111865645670..comments2023-10-08T17:08:18.685-07:00Comments on Birds: What is this bird?Linda Finkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01021136257176196322noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447840137717824621.post-5096303422247514852011-08-08T19:27:38.861-07:002011-08-08T19:27:38.861-07:00Dave Irons identified the bird for me:
It is a ju...Dave Irons identified the bird for me:<br /><br />It is a juvenile Chipping Sparrow. The heavily-streaked underparts of these birds throw most folks off the trail as they try to identify them. The comparatively longish notched tail (which you noticed) is a good indicator that it's not a Savannah Sparrow. From there, the somewhat capped look, reasonably conspicuous buffy supercilium, dark stripe through the eye, crisp wingbars, and uniform streaking on the underparts are helpful clues. Spizella sparrows don't retain this streaky plumage very long. They will undergo a prebasic body molt before migrating, thus by September or early October the streaking is gone, so this is not a plumage most of us see very often. Unless you live near breeders or spend a fair amount of time up in the mountains in late-July and August, juvenile Chipping Sparrows will be unfamiliar to you.<br /><br />If you click on the link below, then click on "identification photos" below the feature photo, then click on photo #8, you should see a bird that looks very much like yours. It is a juv. Chipping Sparrow that was added to the BirdFellow gallery by my friend Mark Szantyr in Connecticut. If anyone is interested in other images of this plumage, I can you jpgs. of birds in this plumage that I photographed at the Cabin Lake Guard Station guzzler a few years ago. They aren't as good as Mark's (I was using a Panasonic Lumix camera at the time).<br /><br />http://www.birdfellow.com/birds/chipping-sparrow-spizella-passerina<br /><br />Dave IronsLinda Finkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01021136257176196322noreply@blogger.com