Was the basis of your determination of age based only on the begging
behavior? Begging can be a courtship behavior as well.

A baby Song Sparrow will have stray tuft of down around the head and
flabby yellow skin that looks kind of like lips at the back part of the
mouth. Generally, speaking Song Sparrows should be at the front end
of the breeding process and given the less than perfect weather over the
last month or so...


>
> Our first baby song sparrow showed up in the yard yesterday
>(April 20). Actually, it was in the feeder, begging an adult to feed
>it. Today, we've seen it in the feeder alone, feeding itself. We
>haven't kept track of when babies appear, but this seems early.
>
>Betty Ruth Estes
>Bill Mertena
>Olympia
>
>

--
*********************************** I was of three minds
* Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR * like a tree
* mpatters at orednet.org * in which there are three blackbirds.
*http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters* -Wallace Stevens