>
>Clay colored got my vote, too, though the habitat and season (very dry and
>spring, respectively, to judge by the just-leafing-out acacia) convinced
>another aquaintance to nominate Brewer's Sparrow. Unfortunately, the
>democratic process doesn't always work with tricky IDs. The "answer"
>givin seemed to cite the dark lores as the crucial point making the bird a
>Chipping Sparrow. Seems reasonable in retrospect. I will have to consult
>Kenn Kaufman's book and see what he says.

The bird in the quiz is indeed a Chipping as far as I can tell. The
dark lores and complete dark eyeline are diagnostic. Apart from pale lores,
a Clay-colored would show a noticeable dark outline to the ear coverts. I
tend to see Clay-coloreds with a bolder pale central crown stripe and darker
malar stripe than the bird in the photo. Finally, this bird shows lateral
crown stripes that approach black near the bill, I don't know how if this is
a confirmed 'field mark' but I have noticed it in many immature/winter
Chipping Sparrows. The bill colour is normal for a non-breeding Chipping.
Breeding Chipping Sparrows obtain a black bill as part of their alternate
plumage, this same type of bill colour change is seen in many other
passerines such as Snow Bunting, Bobolink, Lapland Longspur etc.

Alvaro Jaramillo "You are better off not knowing
Half Moon Bay, CA how sausages and laws are made"
alvaro at quake.net Otto von Bismarck,
but I saw it in a fortune cookie!

http://www.quake.net/~alvaro/index.html