bird's ID (1 Viewer)

[lesley van loo]

Hello,

A couple of weeks ago I was on a holliday in the US and I photographed this bird just outside three rivers, california near Sequoia national park.
We can't find what it is, there were 2 of it and the size is about 4.25-4.5 inch or 11 cm.

I hope someone can help me.

greetings
Lesley van Loo
the Netherlands

 

[deborah4]

Hi Lesley

A big welcome to BF!

Can't help with the id I'm afraid but I'm sure one of our US members will oblige - (looks a little like our European imm. yellow hammers!)

 

[NickPatel92]

looks like a 1st summer ortolan bunting.

 

[robinm]

Hi Lesley,

A warm welcome to BirdForum from all the Moderators and Admin. Glad to have you on board :t:

I'll leave the US bird ID to others.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Just had a look through Sibley and am struggling a bit. The closest I can get is juvenile Sage Sparrow, but I'm nowhere near certain. Don't think it's a Savannah Sparrow.

 

[Tom Dunne]

Here's a shaky vote for Grasshopper Sparrow. Note the eye-ring and nares marks. These do summer in CA. However, the photo doesn't give a back/rear view, so this is just a guess.

 

[jcwings]

I would put my money on Rufous-crowned Sparrow. Note the prominent eye ring and dark sub-mustachial marks. Possibly a worn adult or juvenile bird, but I'm not seeing enough streaking on the breast to make me think juvie. It also looks like a Cassin's Sparrow (same genus) but range makes this improbable, although Cassin's has occurred in CA before. Cassin's would have horizontal steaks on the upper side of the tail feathers.

http://www.greglasley.net/Images/Rufous-crowned-Sparrow-F3.jpg

 

[Klant]

I was also thinking ortolan before I read that it was taken in the US. Sure you didn't mix up your photos or anything?

 

[gerdwichers8]

The head pattern of the bird has a striking resemblance to Sages sparrow,(the light first part of the supercilium and its short, distinct broad black border running over it)
The bird shows a lot of grey to the head, which resembles as well, but a warm brown colour appears unlike the adult
Virtually all sparrows in that region show a white eyering, so that doesn t sort it out.
The warm brown tone to the breast is not found in an adult but it shows this colour to the flanks.
A juvenile would have its post juvenile moult partial in June-September so first winter characters are now likely to be seen. Which I would suggest is the case here.

The species does appear in that area.

http://www.schmoker.org/BirdPics/Photos/Sparrows/SAGS40.jpg
http://www.iws.org/san_clemente_sage_sparrow.htm
http://www.prbo.org/calpif/htmldocs/species/scrub/sage_sparrow.html

 

[JANJ]

I think Andrew is spot on, Sage is what it looks like. Legs perhaps a little on the pale side.

http://www.bobsteelephoto.com/Species/sags.html

http://www.roysephotos.com/SageSparrow.html

JanJ

 

[lesley van loo]

hello Klant, no didn't mix-up my photo's.

the difficult thing is the size, when I saw it I thought that's a litlle bird and I had a photo of a western kingbird also on the same wire, here at home I put them together and you see it's half as big as the kingbird, so it is really small.

 

[tyrannulet]

i dont know yet what it is but one thing i do know is that it is not a sage sparrow

way to dark on the belly and no spots on the chest

there is no light blue on the head

now that i am looking at it, i would say a very worn rufous-crowned sparrow

 

[Klant]

Well, atleast when I go to the US and see something that looks alot like a tiny ortolan, I'll know what I'm looking at B

 

[gerdwichers8]

For Rufous crowned sparrow this link

http://www.featheredfotos.com/spppages/songbirds/rufous-crowned sparrow.html

There is some equal rufous on the cap of Lesley's bird!
But..Sage Sparrow shows some rufous to the cap as well; even in an adult bird.
(See for that my first link on this species).

 

[tyrannulet]

the bird does not fit the picture in the field guide

but at the same time other then the sage sparrow, which i can see some argument for

rufous-crowned is the only option

i found a picture on google that shows that the bird can look non-descript

and if the bird were to have lifted it's head you might not see the rufous unless you looked

 

[atricapillus]

My first impression on this bird was juv Sage or Bell's Sparrow, then thought juv. Rufous-crowned Sparrow had possibilities. In looking at some pictures, I was bothered a little by the prominence of the malar for Sage Sparrow. But it does match up for RCSP.
A few other items. The bill looks fairly sturdy. RCSPs tend to have more prominent bills than Sage. The legs are also pretty sturdy and flesh-colored. Sage/Bell's are thinner tarsied and smaller footed, and blacker, although juvs can still be somewhat fleshy. This bird's legs still look more like RCSP. Both subjectively interpretable, but structural and suggestive of RCSP.
Also, the eye-ring is actualy broken in the back, and pretty slight in the front. Sage Sparrows tend to be more prominent in the eyering than this bird, but it looks just like those of Rufous-crowned.
There is a weak but wide gray superciliary going past and behind eye. This pattern holds for RCSP but not for Sage/Bell's. This superciliary will also give the bird a separately colored crown area.
One more item--the tail looks long, and looks more like that of Aimophila--like it will be rounded, rather than squaring out. Also brown rather than having any blackish or gray tones coming in. May not be definitive, but more consistent with Rufous-crowned Sparrow.
Could be wrong, but seems more like RCSP than anything else.
CHEERS, JOE G
_______________________________________________________

I would put my money on Rufous-crowned Sparrow. Note the prominent eye ring and dark sub-mustachial marks. Possibly a worn adult or juvenile bird, but I'm not seeing enough streaking on the breast to make me think juvie. It also looks like a Cassin's Sparrow (same genus) but range makes this improbable, although Cassin's has occurred in CA before. Cassin's would have horizontal steaks on the upper side of the tail feathers.

http://www.greglasley.net/Images/Rufous-crowned-Sparrow-F3.jpg

 

[lesley van loo]

and what about the Grasshopper Sparrow, the tail of that one isn't as big as the Rufous-crowned Sparrow, just like the one on my photo and it is also a bit smaller.
maybe the tail just looks round because one side of it is behind the other.

 

[gerdwichers8]

http://www.pbase.com/wpatterson/image/63499683

Which shows Grasshopper sparrow. I d say no because among others, the headpattern near the suppercilium is much different and an adult lacks a mallar stripe at all, a juvenile shows it just slightly and about the tail: Its extremely short on this species.
Your bird is in a crouched position (look at its legposition) which makes the tail point backward. Even so, the tail shows too long.

 

[Xenospiza]

Juvenile Rufous-crowned Sparrow must be correct, based on:
- slightly curved culmen (in Sage this is straight)
- eye-ring
- hint of rufous behind eye and on crown
Its underparts seem to too buffy for Sage too.

 

[JANJ]

Had some doubts about the tail and leg colour. So looking again, and on Joe´s other suggestions, seems more likely to be a RCSP.

JanJ