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What Sparrow, Alberta, Canada, June. (1 Viewer)

alanc

Just an earthbound misfit
England
Would be pleased to hear any comments on this sparrow. Taken near Drumheller, Alberta in June. I thought it might be a Song Sparrow.
 

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Kind of hard to tell, but if you twist my arm I think I would suggest that this may be a Savannah Sparrow (similar to Song Sparrow, but not as heavily marked).
 
Having never been to the USA, I wouldn't know for sure. But, to me it looks too un-marked on the head for Song Sparrow, unfortuanly I have no other suggestions.
 
Well, it could be a Savannah sparrow, but it's lacking the tell-tale yellowish eyebrows. Here's a picture of a Savannah Sparrow I took at Slack Slough, Red Deer Alberta. The yellow stripe is quite clear:

So I think your bird may actually be a Vesper sparrow. Note the whitish throat stripe and the lighter streaking. Hope that helps :)
 

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Well, it could be a Savannah sparrow, but it's lacking the tell-tale yellowish eyebrows. Here's a picture of a Savannah Sparrow I took at Slack Slough, Red Deer Alberta. The yellow stripe is quite clear:

So I think your bird may actually be a Vesper sparrow. Note the whitish throat stripe and the lighter streaking. Hope that helps :)

I considered vesper, and perhaps it is, but the eye-ring is not great and savannah doesn't always show the yellow. I really don't have any confidence in any call on this one.

Scott
 
Would be pleased to hear any comments on this sparrow. Taken near Drumheller, Alberta in June. I thought it might be a Song Sparrow.

Like Tero, my first impression was Brewer's Sparrow; note the finely streaked cap and the white moustascial; but the sides of the head look too pale for me, and the habitiat's wrong too - Brewer's is a mountain species - so I would suggest Clay-coloured.

The appearance of some streaking on the breast tells against this diagnosis, because Clay-coloured is always said to have entirely plain underparts; but I think there's not nearly enough there for any race of Savannah or Song, so that's more or less what we're left with.

It could be Vesper (the pattern of the underparts fits that species better), but that throat looks too plain (Vesper's is streaked) and the cap base colour is not quite right. Also, I would expect the eye-ring to be stronger.

Cheers,
Peter C.
 
Can American Tree Sparrow be ruled out?

Well, not right out of hand, but check the date - the Tree Sparrows will all be safely home in the Arctic by June!
:flyaway:

But I think the head is wrong for Tree anyway - there's the streaked crown, rather than solid, and the stripe behind the eye isn't that nice rufous colour that Tree has.

Peter C.
 
Well, not right out of hand, but check the date - the Tree Sparrows will all be safely home in the Arctic by June!
:flyaway:

But I think the head is wrong for Tree anyway - there's the streaked crown, rather than solid, and the stripe behind the eye isn't that nice rufous colour that Tree has.

Peter C.

Oops didn't see that...
 
Like Tero, my first impression was Brewer's Sparrow; note the finely streaked cap and the white moustascial; but the sides of the head look too pale for me, and the habitiat's wrong too - Brewer's is a mountain species - so I would suggest Clay-coloured.

Brewer's is not always a mountain species. Within their range, they also frequent low-elevation brushy areas much like you find around Drumheller. They are often found near treeline, but that treeline can be due to elevation, latitude or transition to semi-arid country. I spent a summer studying them (as well as savannahs and vespers) in central Washington state in coulee country much like that in my home province Alberta.

This looks much like a Brewer's. It looks like the apparent streaking is actually just the wind ruffling his feathers. It just doesn't seem streaky enough to be even a Vesper or Baird's. The sides of the head don't look too pale to me. I saw many lightly marked ones in Washington, as in the attached pic.

It might be a little late for asking this question, seeing as how you saw the bird last summer, but he's obviously singing. You don't happen to recall what type of song? Brewer's go on and on in long trilling sequences. Sometimes you wonder if they ever stop to catch their breath! Savannahs have a much shorter, less variable buzzing song.
 

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Hi All,

I can see where all the trouble is coming from with this ID. It's pretty tricky from the single image. In my opinion, this bird is a Vesper Sparrow. The eyering is there, but is muted by bright sun hitting the face of the bird. The face pattern is otherwise correct for Vesper. There is a very distinct, lower border to the auriculars that curls upward toward the rear of the coverts. Below, is a white malar that similarly curls around back behind the ear coverts. Also the supercillium is ill-defined and really broad, resulting in a relatively narrow, darker streaked crown. There is fine dark streaking evident across the entire upperbreast of the bird, and some of the pale, dark streaked upperparts are barely evident on the bird's right. There is also at least two tracks of dark streaks along the flanks visible on the bird's right side. Shape wise, the bird looks rather pot-bellied. See these images of Vesper to compare head pattern and breast streaking pattern:
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Conservat...yBirds/Featured_photo/Images/Bigpic/vesp1.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/birds9/image/79156592

If the bird lacked streaks on the chest and the flanks, it would certainly closely resemble an adult Brewer's Sparrow.

Chris
 
The bird was singing but only for a short while - I wouldnt be able to describe its song - memory fails me on this one. I only have this one shot as it flew away soon after.
 
Although I'd never put money on this, my first impression was a Brewer's. I took the rather random darkness on the upper chest to be the darker base of the feathers showing due to being ruffled by the wind rather than stripes. The field marks that made me think Brewer's are the streaked crown, indistinct lateral throat stripe and the overall grayishness of the bird.

It's a tough call from this shot, though.
 
I've only seen (and heard) Brewer's sparrow once in my life, so I lack the expertise to exclude that bird (and field guides are almost worthless when it comes to sparrows), but it looks a lot like a vesper sparrow to me (a bird I'm very familiar with). The center spot and streaking is perfect for a vesper. If a Brewer's is like a clay-colored sparrow, the breast streaking would rule out that bird. You'll never see a spot and streaking like that on a clay-colored.
 
Have just found another pic of the same bird - had mis-filed this one so was unable to include it with the original posting - hope it helps the ID
alan
 

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Have just found another pic of the same bird - had mis-filed this one so was unable to include it with the original posting - hope it helps the ID

That's good. One can see the streaking on the flanks and across the breast even more clearly now. ;)

Chris
 
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