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GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist and her five parrots are currently relocating to Germany, where she will continue writing her blog while also writing a book and learning German. (Meanwhile, her parrots will continue to nibble on her extensive personal library.) If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, you can help pay her living expenses by hiring her to "blog" your conference, speak at your club or write articles for your publication (or by clicking on the Paypal button below). If you read an essay on this blog that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for inclusion in OpenLab2009.
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Topic Categories: Birding • Education • Mystery Birds • Ornithology • Photography • Teaching
Posted on: July 3, 2009 9:59 AM, by "GrrlScientist"
tags: Juvenile Gambel's White-Crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelli, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Juvenile Gambel's White-Crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelli, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 25 November 2006 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2006:11:25 08:07:50
Exposure Time: 1/200
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 320
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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Comments
Certainly a first year White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) - note gray face and nape, unmarked flanks, gray and red streaked crown and thin whit wing bars.
Posted by: Michael | July 3, 2009 11:20 AM
Certainly a first year White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) - note gray face and nape, unmarked flanks, gray and red streaked crown and thin white wing bars - great shot of a very widespread North American species.
Posted by: Michael | July 3, 2009 11:25 AM
Seconding the White Crowned Sparrow. It's the only sparrow in my Sibley with a striped red/brown crown and an orange bill - most of the others seem to have gray bills. That white eye-ring is also an indicator, as is those bits of white wing bars.
Posted by: Lia | July 3, 2009 11:48 AM
We can take this one one step further -- given the pale lores, this has to be either a Z. l. gambellii, or one of the pacific coast subspecies. However, the location is a useful cue, since the pacific coast subspecies are largely non-migratory. Also, Sibley's shows them with yellow bills, not the orange on this bird.
Posted by: psweet | July 4, 2009 9:06 AM