This evening I was birding out in far northern Illinois (Lake County) when I came across some variety of sparrow/longspur. The habitat was tallgrass prairie.
I was walking along a gravel trail when I spotted three sparrow-like birds foraging in the short grass bordering the tall grass. They were mottled chestnut above with a strongly buff colored belly and dark tail. There was also a white stripe along the shoulder, though it was not a wing-bar per se. The face was rather generic for a sparrow; pale supercilium and brownish crown with little to no striping along the throat and breast. I also noticed some tail-flicking on two occassions.
The closest guess I have been able to come up with is a female Smith's Longspur, however the pictures that I have seen of the Smith's don't look quite right. In particular, the belly of the birds I saw seem to be a deeper buff than the pictures I've seen. Also, descriptions of Smith's Longspur seem to suggest a greater degree of streaking on the breast and/or sides than I recall. Does anyone know how much variation there is in the plumage of this species and if my description falls within the realm of possibility? If not, any idea what else it could be?
I was walking along a gravel trail when I spotted three sparrow-like birds foraging in the short grass bordering the tall grass. They were mottled chestnut above with a strongly buff colored belly and dark tail. There was also a white stripe along the shoulder, though it was not a wing-bar per se. The face was rather generic for a sparrow; pale supercilium and brownish crown with little to no striping along the throat and breast. I also noticed some tail-flicking on two occassions.
The closest guess I have been able to come up with is a female Smith's Longspur, however the pictures that I have seen of the Smith's don't look quite right. In particular, the belly of the birds I saw seem to be a deeper buff than the pictures I've seen. Also, descriptions of Smith's Longspur seem to suggest a greater degree of streaking on the breast and/or sides than I recall. Does anyone know how much variation there is in the plumage of this species and if my description falls within the realm of possibility? If not, any idea what else it could be?
