crispycreme
Well-known member
I can't make this into a House Sparrow. The bill is just as wrong for it as it is for the House Finch. The breast streaking shouldn't be there either if it were a House Sparrow. All the ones around here, regardless of gender or age, have unmarked breasts (as in the picture JanJ linked). I can accept that a bird could be melanistic, but for a melanistic bird to develop plumage patterns like breast streaking - which is probably a feature evolved over millions of years for camaflauging purposes - seems unlikely to me. It's my understanding that melanistic birds, like their counterpart leucistic birds, show erratic patterning, not structured and purposeful ones.*
* All comments by me are considerably uninformed and wildly conjectural - discount at your leisure.
* All comments by me are considerably uninformed and wildly conjectural - discount at your leisure.