US juv Sparrow id request (1 Viewer)

Hi all,

Had three days in San Francisco on my way back from Mexico last week.

This Sparrow (presumably a juv) has eluded my efforts to id it. The bird was in mixed habitat, low bushes and grasses, in the Bay Area of the city. There were many White-crowned and Chipping Sparrows around.

Any suggestions?

cheers,

Alister

Hi Ali,

Really difficult to tell from that pic (no tail to look at, not a great idea on body shape etc) but it looks closest to a juvenile song sparrow to me - i would expect a bit of a cleaner throat but i'm not up on my western song variations - only seen them in NM - not white crowned - lacks pink bill. chipping sparrow - looks all wrong for one especially lack of eyebrow stripe and eye line you'd see in chipping juve. Your other option would be savannah in the area i guess but the legs seem to dark.

Luke

these pics aren't great but might help: http://mirror-pole.com/sierras/songlinc/song1.htm

My response to all these type pics is "Why isn't it a Song Sparrow?"

thanks for that folks, I have had time to check out more literature and juv Song fits...

I'm going to be spending a lot more time in the USA and Canada, so really keen to get some more shots of these birds, I think they're great...

Alister