Sparrow ID (1 Viewer)

[birdbath]

Can someone please ID this sparrow for me (I assume it's a sparrow)? Location is Ottawa, ON. I'm sure it's something very common but it doesn't seem to fit song sparrow, white-crowned, house or chipping.

I also have a picture of a woodpecker - I think it's a Hairy but I'm wondering if it could be a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (I heard a sapsucker nearby shortly after I saw this bird). Unfortunately I didn't get its head in my picture but the tail and wing pattern is quite clear.

 

[rkj]

Female House Sparrow and probably a Hairy Woodpecker.

 

[Butty]

1-2. Adult female or unsexable juvenile house sparrow.
3. Hairy woodpecker. Head (and bill) are in the photo. Upperpart pattern is all wrong for yellow-bellied sapsucker.

 

[Harrybongo]

Female House Sparrow and probably a Hairy Woodpecker.

 

[nartreb]

Agreed except I wouldn't venture to say whether the woodpecker is a Hairy or a Downy.

 

[Butty]

It's got a long bill.

 

[birdbath]

Thanks!

My best guess was a juvenile House Sparrow, which surprisingly, is missing from my list....so I can now add it.

The woodpecker was medium-sized (8-9 inches maybe) and had a pretty long bill, so I'm now sure it's a Hairy - I've already seen plenty of those so there's no need for a 100% ID on this one.

 

[tom baxter]

I can't see the bill on the woodpecker at all, but it has completely white outter tail feathers (lacking black spots) which suggests Hairy>Downy.

 

[Butty]

it has completely white outter tail feathers (lacking black spots)

That's a photo-artefact. And, even if white outer tail-feathers were certainly visible, there's no way that presence or absence of small black spots on them could be reliably seen in a photo of this low quality (no offence).

 

[rkj]

It's got a long bill.

That's a photo-artefact. And, even if white outer tail-feathers were certainly visible, there's no way that presence or absence of small black spots on them could be reliably seen in a photo of this low quality (no offence).

I agree with the second statement quoted here, but I think the quality is also such that we cannot be sure that we are able to see the bill at all, hence I would leave it as probably a Hairy Woodpecker.

 

[Butty]

we cannot be sure that we are able to see the bill at all

There's a long thin black thing extending from the front of the head and appearing attached to it, in exactly the position and at exactly the angle that a woodpecker's bill would be. On the principle of ducks walking/quacking, and there being no particular reason to think it's a twig, I call that a (long) bill.

 

[dantheman]

I'm not sure I can even see the head on the woodpecker, let alone the bill. So Downy/Hairy for me.

Agree with House Sparrow.