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High Desert Sparrow, western US (1 Viewer)

G

Gary Clark

Registered User
I posted this bird in the gallery, but a member disagreed with the ID. I believe he may well be right. I have a really hard time with these sparrows, and so I thought I'd toss it out for voting.

He is perched in a high desert environment, next to the outflow of a spring. Location is extreme northern Nevada, at around 9000' elevation.

Thanks!
 

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I believe the bird is a Song Sparrow. Granted the streaking is not quite as heavy as that normally seen on the Song Sparrow, but this is variable. Song Sparrows sometimes show that buffy coloration on the breast. The grayish face and buffy color near the "moustache" is, I believe, another characteristic of the Song Sparrow.
 
I still think this is a Lincolns Sparrow . The raised crest is very characteristic , the buffy chest area and grey face also dis-count a Song Sparrow to me anyway ...

Here's a Lincolns from my backyard for comparison
 

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Edit: upon further review I take back everything I said in this post before. Nomdeploom and nikovich, your birds are Lincoln's, the one I posted below is a Song Sparrow. Buffy chest, thinner streaks and the crest appear to be diagnostic for Lincoln's.
 

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All the Lincoln's Sparrows I have seen (including the ones we are currently banding) show a very distinct orangish/buffy coloration on the breast. Neither of the photos by the OP show this coloration to extent I would expect for a Lincoln's Sparrow.

As I stated before, some of the Song Sparrows do tend to show a slight buffy coloration on the breast but never to the extent of the Lincoln's.

Below is a photo of Lincoln's which we recently banded.
 

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Larry, look at the cheek patch just under they eye, though. On your bird it's light grey like the rest of its face, as it is on nomdeploom's and on nikovich's. On my bird it's darker. Maybe I'm exaggerating here but the face of nomdeploom's bird just doesn't look right for a Song Sparrow.
 
I have been looking more closely at "cheek patches" on both species and I feel that this in itself may not be a realiable field mark for either species.

Here is a photo of a Song Sparrow "pulled off the internet" which shows a light, "same color as the rest of the face" pattern.
 

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Jan, sometimes they do get mis-labeled, don't they!

The "what's this?" reference in your post above is most certainly a Song Sparrow! (But it is labeled as a Lincoln's Sparrow.)
 
Jan said:
Both are Lincoln´s Sparrow. Note the thin streaks on the flanks and breast, breast buffish in image 1, the thin malar, greyish face and buff submoustachial stripe. The dark central breast spot is also a character of Lincoln´s.
Click to expand...

However, both Lincoln's and Song sparrows may show buffish breast (much more noticeable on a Lincoln's), a malar stripe (generally more noticeable on a Song), grayish faces (both) and buff submoustachial stripe (both, sometimes). The dark central breast spot can usually be seen on both (generally much more noticeable on the Song Sparrow).
 
I'm also in the lincoln camp. The fine streaking and to me substantial buffiness on the malar and ending suddenly on the breast confirms lincoln. I darkened the first picture (no colour alteration) and the buff is very real.

Scott
 
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Lincoln's for me. The raised crest, the buff wash on the breast with no real breast spot, say Lincoln's to me. Albeit a washed out looking photograph.
 
And the votes are in . . . .

Thanks to all for the help! The voting seems strongly for a Lincoln's sparrow. I had originally called it a Vesper Sparrow in my gallery posting, so this is a big surprise, and tells me I have a long ways to go in distinguishing these similar sparrows. Nikovitch from Saskatoon indicated that the raised crest is diagnostic of Lincoln's, and it was certainly noticeable in this individual. Not only that, it gives me a new species! ;)
 
I look at the head. Song Sparrow seem to me to have a couple of shades of brown, near-black, and white. Lincoln's has a nice contrasting buffy submoustachial stripe, thin and less triangular malar stripe, a grayer face and nape, and a finely flecked reddish crown stripe.
Another thing I learned recently was that on some Lincoln's, it appears like the only true white areas on the body are the belly (variable) and the throat. On Song, it appears very white in many areas, with thick brown streaks all over the place.

Lincoln's for me.
 
cavan wood said:
I'm also in the lincoln camp. The fine streaking and to me substantial buffiness on the malar and ending suddenly on the breast confirms lincoln. I darkened the first picture (no colour alteration) and the buff is very real.

Scott
Click to expand...

Scott you darkened, I lightened (no color alteration) and OP's original photo
 

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