Dave,

One bird that is often mistaken for Tree Sparrow is the immature plumage
of White-crown Sparrow. The can look surprisingly simular.

A Tree Sparrow should not resemble a Song Sparrow in size and shape. Their
genus _Spizella_ has a distictive shape (See Kenn Kaufmans book _Advanced
Birding_ for a full discussion on this). The main field mark should be its
bicolored bill.

I hope that helps,

Russell

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Russell Rogers
4510 Glenn Way SW
Seattle, WA 98116
(206) 935-6280
rrogers at halcyon.com
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On Sat, 30 Nov 1996 Duwamps at aol.com wrote:

> Tweeters,
>
> This afternoon on the Arboretum waterfront trail, I saw what I think was an
> American Tree Sparrow. Never having seen one before, I'd like to know how
> likely an ID this was, or what else it might have been.
>
> The bird was about the size and build of a song sparrow. Its color was
> generally pale buff, with a light gray head and throat. It had a brown
> eyestripe, light eyebrow line, and a brownish crown framed by darker brown.
> There were two thin brown stripes down the scapulars on each side. The
> inner edges of the folded wings (tertials?) had black feathers outlined in
> white, and there were two white wing bars. Back and rump were clear. The
> tail had thin white edges. The breast was clear, very pale buff, in contrast
> to the gray throat, and there was a smallish central spot. It was feeding on
> the path near the arboretum end of the trail. It generally matches the
> illustrations in the Peterson's and National Geographic guides, but is maybe
> somewhat paler.
>
> I was able to oberve the bird from about 25 feet for a couple of minutes,
> until it was flushed into the shrubbery by a flock of small children. A
> two-tone bill probably would have cinched it, but all I noted was that it was
> rather muddy.
>
> Has anyone else seen this bird, or have an opinion as to its identity?
>
> thanks,
>
> Dave Brodeur
> Mapleleaf, Seattle
>
>
>