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Answer 1 |
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Photo #1 “Easy” This is a streaked brown bird, with a fairly thick, conical bill—it looks like some sort of sparrow. It has warm and varied brown tones on the upperparts, moderate sized bill, striped crown, grayish underparts; a combination which in one way or another eliminates streaked finches, female Pheucticus grosbeaks, and other somewhat similar groups. House Sparrows also don't look like this bird- the males distinctively patterned, the females with a plainer head pattern ( lacking a median crown stripe), and other differences. This bird is pretty clearly in the American sparrow family (Emberizidae). Within that family, the towhees and juncos are unstreaked (except in juvenile plumage in late summer, but this is winter), and Lark Bunting and the longspurs are distinctively different—this is definitely a bird that bears the name “sparrow.” One of the most obvious features of this bird is the bold striping on the head- blackish eyeline, mostly white supercilium, blackish lateral crown stripes and a whitish median crown stripe. The face below the eyeline is pretty much plain, though- no noticeable patterning in the auricular area. This head pattern- boldly striped down to the eye, plain on the lower face, pretty much narrows it down to White-crowned and White-throated Sparrow. A yellow area in the front part of the supercilium, a gray bill (not yellow or orange or pink), and a well defined white throat remove any thoughts of White-crowned Sparrow, and clinch the identification as a White-throated Sparrow. The fine streaks on the underparts further support the identification—White-throats (not always but) often have some variable light streaking on the flanks and breast, but White-crowns lack any distinct streaking on the underparts past juvenile plumage. Also helpful in picking a White-throat out of a mixed flock are their more Song Sparrow-like posture, and usually a more distinctly rufous tone to the wings. This White-throated Sparrow, probably an adult “white-striped” form in basic plumage, was in Wilder Ranch State Park on January 13, 2007.
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