Mystery Bird: Grasshopper Sparrow, Ammodramus savannarum

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[Mystery bird] Grasshopper Sparrow, Ammodramus savannarum, photographed in Attwater Prairie Chicken Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]

Image: Joseph Kennedy, 6 December 2008 [larger view].

Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/90s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.

Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.

Review all mystery birds to date.

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Is that a clay-colored sparrow? The white breast and something in the stripes on the face suggest that, but I haven't seen one in person.

I want to say that this is a grasshopper sparrow, though photographed at an angle that obscures the more classic head profile as a field mark.

It does have a pale medial crown stripe. It doesn't have a throat stripe. And are those the barest hints of rufous at the shoulders?