Posted by "GrrlScientist" on December 30, 2008 tags: Lincoln’s Sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lincoln’s Sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii, photographed in Manhattan, Kansas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
Slightly peaked crown + buffy breast + fine black streaks = Lincoln’s Sparrow
I’m calling this a Lincoln’s Sparrow, based mostly on the head markings (“broad gray supercilium, crown often peaked, buffy eye-ring”, per Sibley). Those outer tail feathers bug me; they look like I’m seeing some very light coloration there, but I’m not sure if it’s a trick of the light or the angle or something. But that had me trying to convince myself it was a Vesper Sparrow for a while. But overall, I think I’m happy with Lincoln’s.
It’s an LBJ. [grins, ducks, and runs like hell]
& kitteh sez: iz a NOM NOM NOM! =^..^=
Now, I’m a glory bird kind of guy. I love seeing a Bald Eagle standing on a road-kill deer carcass, a Red-Tail diving on a bunny, a Cooper’s Hawk snatching a Starling.
So I might be reluctant to admit publicly that my favorite birds are the Wood Warblers and the Sparrows. All of which have seriously declined in numbers in my viewing lifetime.
This is so: the Wood Warblers and the Sparrows will crash and burn, it’s too late, the tipping point has already passed.
Lincoln’s Sparrow.
December 30, 2008
December 30, 2008
December 30, 2008
December 30, 2008