[eteune]

I think this is a juvenile bird, I saw it today at lunchtime while snapping photos of a bluebird family in a forest preserve NOT using a nesting box!
Anyway, please take a look if you have a sec.

[weather]

I don't have a field guide at the moment, but I think it's a Chipping Sparrow....

Mike

[eteune]

yeah, that looks about right, thanks.

[Grousemore]

What about the streaking?
Savannah for me, tentatively.

[prairiemerlin]

Chipping - note the rusty cap and pink bill.

[gthang]

It doesn't look right for a chipping sparrow. chipping sparrows don't have streaking on the belly, and certainly not that long a bill!

resembles a vagrant Ipswich Sparrow.

[eteune]

The streaking is from being a juvenile. Wrong shape and wings and tail too long for Savannah or Ipswich. Lots of Savannahs around here and I have tons of pics of them.

[Grousemore]

Originally Posted by eteune

The streaking is from being a juvenile. Wrong shape and wings and tail too long for Savannah or Ipswich. Lots of Savannahs around here and I have tons of pics of them.

Surprised you asked for help in that case...

I was wrong about the streaking I now realise, so have learnt something today.

[Thayeri]

OK, this Chipping Sparrow consensus has been bothering me. My problem is that I'm overrun with Chipping Sparrows. Front yard, back yard, they are everywhere, among other places in my yard, they even nest in the white cedar six feet from this keyboard, that I see when I look out the window. I've never once seen a juvenile that looks like the photos. Yes, I see the plumage resemblance. But the jizz is dead wrong, not to mention the structure, and most important of all, the bill.

I didn't want to object until I had an alternative candidate, and now I do: juvenile Dicksissel. Now, the bill is just right, and so is the jizz. My problem is that while I have seen adults, I've never seen a juvenile in person, so I'm having to go off of several less than satisfactory field guides and photos. Here is a photo, that helps, but doesn't solve everything, as the front of the bird is washed out:

http://www.capebretonbirds.ca/dickcissel8m.jpg

Note the exact match on the pinkish bill, as well as the pinkish legs that juvie Dicksissels have. What the photo doesn't show (due to lighting), is the fine streaks on the breast. A juvenile female can have no yellow in the eyebrow, but can have some chestnut in the crown that has no median stripe.

Unfortunately, this is an adult male Dickcissel with different color plumage, bill and feet color, but look at the position and the overall structure:

http://www.birddigiscoping.com/dickcissel3.jpg

Now compare to a typical genuine juvenile Chipping sparrow at the bottom right of this Cornell page, as well as the bill and structure of either of the adult photos:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/program...g_Sparrow.html

It is a theory, I can't get definitive, but I am more comfortable with juvenile Dickcissel than juvenile Chipping Sparrow, and that is my vote.

[eteune]

It was WAY too small for a Dickcissel. Smaller than a house sparrow, just the right size for a juvie chipping sparrow, or something similar. I am not totally convinced of the chipping sparrow thing either, but I saw and photographed it myself and I cannot find another candidate.
Here are just a few ok pics of juvie chipping sparrows, I will look for more, but definitely way too small for a dickcissel.

http://images.google.com/images?q=ju...ve&sa=N&tab=wi

Ed

[Thayeri]

Thanks for the size information, I was never that comfortable with the Dickcissel theory, just trying to find an alternative. Because I am still convinced that there is no way that bird is a Chipping Sparrow, and the photos you link to just reinforce that. They look like Chipping Sparrows, and the subject bird does not.

A logical approach might be to say that if the bird looks similar to a juvenile Chipping Sparrow, and is of similar size, but is not a Chipping Sparrow, then it is likely another juvenile Spizella. Except with a longer tail... more slender body... somewhat longer and more pinkish bill.. with a rufous cap... a distinct line behind the eye, and thin throat stripe... that looks plain as an adult, so we don't think of it as being streaked.

This bird in other words:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/tmstua...arrowJrB04.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/tmstua...arrowJrB01.jpg

I'm changing my vote from exploring Dickcissel to a solid vote for juvenile Field Sparrow.

(Ironically I studied a juvenile Field Sparrow in my scope for a good five minutes last week in Southern Wisconsin, and could kick myself for not making the ID sooner. A sparrow in the path is different from a sparrow in the tree, and I don't know that I've ever looked up at a juvenile Field Sparrow before.)

[JANJ]

If the crown is rufous, as it seems to be in pic 2, the combination of that, and a streaked breast would exclude a juvenile Chipping.
http://www.umd.umich.edu/dept/rouge_river/ccsp.html
Dickcissle didn´t feel right, http://www.tallgrasswise.org/Quiz/qu...-august01e.JPG
Field? Otherwise agree with Thayeri.
JanJ

[weather]

Good work Thayeri! Yeah, I would have to go with Field Sparrow too. It's spot on with all field marks...

Mike