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Mystery sparrow followup



Hi,
 
I have received private missives from 6 birding experts, all of whom I highly respect, who have informed me (unanimously) that this is a Song Sparrow.
 
What follows is an e-mail to a friend (birding with me at the time) that shows my ill-fated attempt at identifying this particular bird, based on the fuzzy photo and what I observed in the field. He, too, like the other experts, had concluded it was a Song Sparrow, but I wasn't convinced:
 
"I don't think the picture's clear enough to determine if there's streaking
on the breast. The secondary wing pattern (black with white edging) looks
just like the Sibley illustration for a white-crowned. The dark heavy black
eyestripe looks like a chipper, the rufous head would fit all 3 birds, the
moustachial stripe could possibly fit all 3 birds. All 3 birds have a white
eye ring.

"Based on the wing pattern (see Sibley), the weak moustachial stripe, and the
rufous head, I would bet on a first winter White-crowned Sparrow. We saw
quite a few out there that day. What doesn't quite fit is such a heavy eye
stripe, like a chipping sparrow.

"Sibley's first winter white-crowned shows a weak moustachial stripe. The
short primary extension and secondary wing pattern looks identical to the
white-crowned Sibley illustration.

"If I post it on birdnet, I'm willing to bet there won't be anything
approaching a consensus. If I knew for sure what it was, and had a better
picture to prove it, I could do a bird quiz ala Tim Avery. Under the
circumstances, I'm hesitant to post it, particularly, since it's unlikely to
be anything unusual and the photo's so inconclusive. It's fun speculating
however.

As you can see, I was totally wrong on the consensus. Song Sparrow wins, hands down, and I'll have to eat crow :-(
 
Humbly yours,
 
Jim