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Western WA sparrow (1 Viewer)

Birderbears

New member
United States
I think this is a white throated sparrow, but they are uncommon in western Washington, so I’m not sure. They visit my feeder often. Strong brown and tan chipmunk stripes on the head, clear white patch on the throat, but not an obvious yellow eye patch.F0086FFF-D8E8-4D29-A5DF-C5E893C2B03F.jpegD72C7BE6-CE88-4F23-87E9-18C96C67B58A.jpegB7EEE3BD-CE8D-4419-8CF3-1DCF68755EFF.jpeg3AFDCC5D-5D9D-4105-8215-9415B54C3081.jpeg035FDC2C-4513-4701-ADBF-EACA14A5D996.jpeg25B1667D-C06D-45BD-97E7-F7DE5B3FCAFA.jpegC7E29E5F-C6D3-4EE0-A894-F0AFB1C8AC44.jpeg
 

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This is a puzzelling bird to me. As far as I know, White-throated Sparrows always show at least a little yellow over the eye and more rufous tones in the wings which I am not seeing in these photos. The alternative would be an immature White-crowned Sparrow, but that should not have such a strongly contrasting white throat or dark bill. I could almost believe this is a hybrid, but probably someone else will have a more sensible analysis.
 
Thanks for the input everyone! I’ve only been birding for a year so I’m still a newbie. The white throat patch seemed to clearly point to white-throated sparrow but every time I enter it on my bird count I’m told this is an infrequent visitor, rare to my area, am I SURE it’s correct etc. Glad to have some more experienced eyes on the bird!
 
Ask away Birderbears! Our geniuses in the I D section are top notch!
There should be no question about the ID of this bird. Rather than looking at the front of the bird's head, look at the rear crown. In White-crowns the stripes end up forming a cross and in White-throated they remain rather parallel. I have no idea why more field guides do not point this out.
Peter
 
Hey neighbor, I've lived in Bremerton, Wa for three Winters now and have had at least one in the yard each Winter. This year two, and my first experience with the tan morph. Something new for me. I found this in looking for an explanation.
Thanks Oldnintheway, that’s good to know. I read up on the tan morph. Very interesting! I’m up in Bellingham. It’s been fun watching the geese and swans come through up here this winter.
 
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Thanks Oldnintheway, that’s good to know. I read up on the tan morph. Very interesting! I’m up in Bellingham. It’s been fun watching the geese and swans come through up here this winter.
We lived in Bellingham for 10 yrs before moving down here in 2018. I had one in the yard every Winter up there also, in Fairhaven. Lots of great birding up there. I especially miss my trips across the border.
 
White-throated for me... And, I regularly see them with no or nearly no yellow this time of year.
Cheers
 
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