Unusual White-throated Sparrow (1 Viewer)

hbreder

Well-known member

• Apr 29, 2013

• #1

A White-throated Sparrow photographed in my backyard yesterday shows bright yellow alula feathers. None of the illustrations/photos of this species that I have looked at shows this. Is it a hybrid?

 

Attachments

• 
  White-throated_Sparrow_2_IMG_0295.jpg

  298.7 KB · Views: 82

F

fugl

Well-known member

• Apr 29, 2013

• #2

It's probably just a plumage abnormality. According to BNA-online, a couple of White-throated Sparrows with yellowish underparts are known from museum collections.

Edit:
Bright yellow alulas & untinted underparts & I missed it all! Wow, even by my standards an extremely sloppy reading of your post. Apologies, apologies apologies. . ..

 

Last edited: Apr 29, 2013

Peter C.

...just zis guy, you know?

• Apr 29, 2013

• #3

I don't think it's that unusual for the alula to be bright yellow on a white-phase bird like this; it's just that the feathers are better hidden, and often completely hidden, in a normal view in the field. In the hand (ie. when banding them), you can often see the yellow there.

 

hbreder

Well-known member

• Apr 29, 2013

• #4

Makes sense. I am surprised that it isn't mentioned in Beadle & Rising's Photographic Guide of Sparrows of United States and Canada, or explicitly stated anywhere else in the many general guides that I have own.