[EBB Sightings] sparrow ID help

Hi Kevin,

Sure looks like a Clay-colored Sparrow to me...  The gray neck and pale
crown stripe, together with the face pattern in your first picture, and the
small size are pretty convincing.  It's a good bird for the Bay Area!

Bob Lewis
Berkeley, CA

-----Original Message-----
From: sightings-admin at diabloaudubon.com
[mailto:sightings-admin at diabloaudubon.com] On Behalf Of PnK L
Sent: Friday, March 03, 2006 5:58 PM
To: Sightings EBB
Subject: [EBB Sightings] sparrow ID help

Last couple of weeks, a mystery sparrow has been visiting our backyard
every couple of days.  My wife and I can't seem to make a definitive
ID, so I'm typing in our notes on it and have a link to some (rather
dodgy) pics.  (Unfortunately my digital camera only zooms to 135mm, so
the pics are a LONG ways from spectacular, but hopefully they'll be
adequate for ID purposes.)

Notes:

A. Size and shape: much smaller and slimmer than the White-crowned,
Golden-crowned, and House sparrows that predominate in our yard.

B. Overal color: lighter gray and lighter tan than the White-crowned
sparrows -- it is a pale to light gray and buff.

C. Tail: long and noticeably notched.

D. Facial markings:
whitish sub-moustachial stripe, bordered with a grey-black line below.

gray neck collar (nearly entirely circling the neck).

indistinct gray crown stripe, flecked with dark lines, bordered by a
brown/tan stripe on either side.  The brown stripes also are flecked,
somewhat heavily.

Gray supercillium, rather indistinct towards the front.

Eye line stops at the eye (i.e., post-occular only).  No prominent eye
ring, though a faint one -may- be there on the lower half of the eye.

Bill is two toned: horn colored on top and orange on bottom.  Legs pinkish.

Clear grayish breast, but with faint buffy tinge just in front of the
wings (i.e., where the breast turns into the sides).

Faint gray wing bars.

Rump was brown or buffy, with some streaking.

URL: http://photobucket.com/albums/f389/clapperrail/  ... see the
three "mystery_sparrow" photos.

Thanks for any and all help with this one!  My wife and I are still
rather much "newbies" and this one is stumping us!


--
===============
Paula and Kevin L.
===============

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