tags: Clay-colored Sparrow, Spizella+pallida, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Clay-colored Sparrow, Spizella pallida, photographed in Marymoor Park, Redmond, King County, Washington State. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Marv Breece, 7 October 2006 [larger view].
Canon EOS 350D 1/400s f/8.0 at 300.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
The first step in identifying sparrows is to eliminate as many species as possible -- and the best introduction to that technique remains the splendid chapter titled "The Generic Approach" in Kenn Kaufman's Advanced Birding. Following the steps outlined there, we can fairly quickly come to the conclusion that this tiny, long-tailed, beady-eyed beast is a Spizella, limiting our possibilities to a mere half dozen species.
The distinctive Black-chinned Sparrow can be tossed out of consideration right away, as can the robust and richly colored American Tree Sparrow. Thanks to its pale lore, our quiz bird sports an "open," friendly expression, unlike the dapper but slightly severe look of a Chipping Sparrow with its black eyeline that continues across the lore. Field Sparrow (and Worthen's Sparrow, if you insist) are even sweeter-looking than the mystery bird, with pale rusty head markings and bright eyerings. And so we're left with just Brewer's and Clay-colored Sparrows, the "brown" sparrows of the genus Spizella.
Size and proportions aren't going to help us much in distinguishing those two -- or at least they aren't going to help me. Brewer's, along with its congener Black-chinned Sparrow, is a terrifically long-tailed bird, but the angle in this photograph doesn't really let us assess tail length. Both Brewer's and Clay-colored are small, though I think Brewer's is a tiny bit tinier; whatever difference there is will not be apparent in a photograph, though, where both species would be dwarfed by those impressive sunflower heads.
We're reduced to looking at plumage. Brewer's Sparrows tend to be a dull sandy brown, though every winter here in Arizona I see birds with the hint of a silvery collar; I doubt that any Brewer's could be as clean dove-gray on the nape as this bird, though. The underparts of Brewer's Sparrow usually strike me as quite uniformly brownish-white, without the suggestion of a warmer breast band as shown here. And Brewer's have a friendly and gentle look, the auriculars not well set off from the rest of the face, and a neat white eyering making the bird look simultaneously innocent and curious.
Clay-colored Sparrow, on the other hand, is an excellent fit for the bird in the photo here. The nape is bright silver, without streaking from this angle. The crown, too, seems to be without the fine streaks of a Brewer's Sparrow. The auriculars are clearly outlined by dark, well-defined postocular and submoustachial stripes; there is a fairly strong lateral throat stripe, too. The breast has a warm brown wash, a feature especially pronounced in first-winter Clay-colored Sparrows (which is the age group most likely to show such badly worn rectrices this time of year, too).
Some Timberline Sparrows -- a race of Brewer's Sparrow that has been proposed for full-species status -- might approach the strong face pattern of our quiz bird, but I don't believe that even that richly colored Brewer's could show as much buff on the breast or silver on the nape.
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The Northwestern Ruffled Freebird
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Actually, I sequenced its genome (I have a *REALLY* good image zoom plugin for Firefox).
Clay-colored Sparrow?
Working on the assumption that this is a Spizella, I note that this bird has a pink bill, a really white malar, buffy cheeks with strong brown eyeline and mustache, gray nape, and buffy breast and flanks. Seems like it would be a bit out of place, though.
Brewer's Sparrow. Unstreaked breast, brown cheek patch with gray below and behind. Not a Clay-colored Sparrow because of the location in western Washington.
To Quiet Desperation, thank you so much today's LOL! I needed it, and am very glad I had nothing in my mouth when I read your response. Being in the east, I am not familiar with Brewer's Sparrow.
I'm going to go with Clay-colored Sparrow on this, even though it's not where it's supposed to be geographically. I'm basing that on the "clean gray nape", "contrasting head markings", and "clean buffy colors" (Sibley). It wouldn't shock me to find out that it's actually a Brewer's Sparrow, but this bird looks more Clay-colored to me in terms of its actual appearance. I'm looking forward to finding out the correct answer.
John, I posted my comment before I saw yours, so my comment about it not being a Clay-colored was really an argument with myself. I do agree with your comments about the markings. However, I usually go with geography and variability trumping seeing an exotic... a hard-learned lesson. It seems within the variability of Brewer's Sparrow. On the other hand, I've seen far fewer Clay-coloreds. Another thing to consider is that if I was in Redmond, I would be much more likely to take a picture of a Clay-colored than a fairly common Brewer's. :-) I, too, am looking forward to learning the correct answer.
@Brenda
Science needs more humor. I do what I can. :-)
I'm guessing Brewer's sparrow. Note thin line on lower throat extending back to distance of ear from bill tip; color (and shape) of bill wrong for chipping, tree and clay-colored. It would help with ID of mystery birds to include dates!
It does have the dates, if you look closely:
"Image: Marv Breece, 7 October 2006 [larger view]."
Brent, I went though pretty much the same mental calculation you described: "If I saw this bird in that location, I'd of course think it was Brewer's. But maybe the fact that it was photographed means it was a notable rarity..."
I confess, too, that after posting my guess I "looked in the back of the book", which I normally do when I'm interested in the answer. By that I mean, I hunted down the original image on the web to see how the photographer identified it. It's usually (but not always) pretty easy to find the original. Sometimes the answer I find bums me out for the rest of the day; other times I'm ridiculously pleased with myself. It's really quite silly how much that affects me.
Silly -- but fun. :-)
actually, considering how difficult it is to photograph ANY bird, just because it has been photographed does NOT mean the bird is unusual!
I'm going with Clay-colored Sparrow. Some features pointing to that identification are: the ear coverts are brown, with a distinct moustachial stripe (pale grayish brown with an indistinct moustachial in Brewer's Sparrow). The post-ocular stripe is dark and broad (thin and indistinct in Brewer's), and the supercilium is distinct and buffy (not distinct and grayer in Brewer's).