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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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« Mystery Bird: Plain Chachalaca, Ortalis vetula | Main | Mystery Bird: House Wren, Troglodytes aedon »
Topic Categories: Birding • Education • Mystery Birds • Photography • Teaching • Travel
Posted on: November 5, 2009 9:59 AM, by "GrrlScientist"
tags: Chipping Sparrow, Spizella passerina, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Chipping Sparrow, Spizella passerina, photographed at Elmer Bailey Road, West Harris County, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 9 March 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/800s f/8.0 at 500.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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Comments
Rufous cap, white supercilium and black line through the eye, is it a Chipping Sparrow?
Posted by: Adrian | November 5, 2009 11:52 AM
That's what I was going to say (chipping sparrow). I think we had one of those fairly recently, but I guess grrl is cool with faking us out by re-running a recent species; I believe I've seen that before.
Posted by: John Callender | November 5, 2009 12:15 PM
Yes John- been there, done that! Chipping Sparrow, Spizella passerina: as Adrian above plus relatively small bill- winter coloring is subdued, buff brown, with darkly streaked upperparts, and the cap is also more subdued, more brown than red.
Posted by: David | November 5, 2009 5:55 PM
i am helping paul sweet with the chipping sparrow ID .. he says that this is a frequently mis-identified bird on the illinois CBCs, so yes, i am slipping a few pics of chippies in from time to time, just to make sure that i can help people know what they are seeing.
and of course, i do like to fake you all out from time to time .. one time, i ran the same species two days in a row .. that sure did test you on your ID skills, since so many of you were saying "we had this species yesterday, so surely, this must be something different (today)."
um, not necessarily.
hm. i probably should not be bragging about these things; you'll get wise to my tricks.
Posted by: "GrrlScientist" | November 5, 2009 6:24 PM
Thanks, GrrlScientist. I hope enough people read this to help.
Thought I should call attention to three more ID points. The rump is gray, contrasting with the brown on the back. (Field and Tree Sparrows show this, Clay-colored and Brewer's don't.) The red cap is streaked with dark brown -- that's what makes it appear darker. This is more pronounced early in the winter. And the bill, while showing a dark culmen, also shows pink on the upper mandible. A Tree Sparrow will always have a distinctly bicolored bill, with a yellower lower mandible and a dark gray upper mandible.
Posted by: psweet | November 5, 2009 9:40 PM
Thanks Paul, the streaking in the cap is a good mark to look for... is the bill always pink?
Posted by: David | November 6, 2009 8:07 AM
I wasn't sure. Thought it might be a common sparrow like we tried to catch as kids. Unfortunately for a 5 year, the only one I ever caught was dead and covered with lice.
Mother was not pleased. But, yes, it is a Chipping Sparrow. Thanks for the mind tease.
Posted by: Raymond Fellers | November 6, 2009 4:31 PM
David -- I went back and checked my limited photos, and those books I could easily find. If you mean, is it pink all year, no. They turn dark gray in the summer. If you mean, is it sometimes more yellowish, I can't find any reason to say it never happens, but nothing seems to suggest it.
Posted by: psweet | November 6, 2009 4:51 PM